■ 



x o 



0^ 




Fro7n Photo, by permission of 

Elliott &* Fry, Baker Street, W. 



Heroes of Discovery 
in South Africa 

BY 

N. Bell 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 



Condon and f elUng-on-Cyne: 

THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO., LTD. 
NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE 



TO MY FRIEND, 

D E A WHIGHAM, 

I DEDICATE THIS EDITION 
OF MY 

61 HEROES OF DISCOVERY IN SOUTH AFRICA." 

N. BELL. 

Southbourne-on-Sea. 



PREFACE. 



I^JITK the aid of the many recently published and 
important works on Africa, such as Keltie's 
" Partition of Africa/' Silva White's rt Development of 
Africa," and the narratives of the explorers themselves, 
the two volumes on African Exploration have been 
thoroughly revised and brought up to date. In Heroes 
of Discovery in South Africa are dealt with those 
travellers who started from points to the south of the 
Equator ; whilst the companion volume, Heroes of 
Discovery in North Africa, records the adventures of 
those who began their expeditions to the north of that 
boundary line. 

The last chapter has been added by another writer. 

January 1899, 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

CHAPTER I.— INTRODUCTORY. 

Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by Diaz — Yasco da Gama — 
Almeida and Albuerquerque — Early Explorations on the East Coast 
— First Colonisation of the Cape — Sufferings of the Natives — 
Humane Policy of the English — Kaffraria and its Annexation — 
Basuto Land and Moshesh — Natal Annexed to the Cape Colony 
— Griqua Land — The Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics, 11 

CHAPTER II. 

EARLY EXPLORERS FROM THE SOUTH. 

Vaillant, Sparrmann, and Barrow — Paterson's Trips to Namaqua 
Land and Kaffraria — Lichtenstein's Visit to the Bechuana Tribe — 
Murder of Cowan and Denovan — Campbell's Visits to Lattaku and 
to Namaqua Land — Campbell's Second Journey and Arrival at 
King Kossie's Capital — Burchell's abortive attempt to cross Africa 
— Moffat's immediate Predecessors, 27 

CHAPTER III. 
moffat's work in namaqua land and among the bechuanas. 
Journey from Cape Town to Pella, and Sufferings by the Way — 
Arrival at Africaner's Kraal — Previous Life and Conversion of 
Africaner — House-building in Namaqua Land — Trip to the North 
— Alarm of Lions — Old Woman left to die — Return to Africaner's 
Kraal — Trip to Griqua Land — Africaner's Journey to Cape Town 
— Moffat on the Kuruman — Early Troubles — War Scenes — Trip to 
the Unknown North — Mosilikatse's Ambassadors — Journey to 
Matabele Land — Retirement, . . . , . . .47 

CHAPTER IV. 
Livingstone's early discoveries. 
Arrival at Cape Town — Preliminary Work in Bechuana Land — 
Settlement at Mabotsa — Troubles with Lions — Marriage and Arrival 
at Sochuaue — Chief Sechele — Drought and Removal to Kolobeng 
—First Trip to the Kalihari Desert and Return to Kolobeng — 



4 



Contents. 



Second Trip, and Discovery of Lake N'gami — Visit to Sebituane 
and the Death of that Chief — Return to England of Mrs. Living- 
stone and her Children — Journey from Cape Town to Linyanti — 
The Makololo and their chief Sekeletu — Journey from Linyanti 
to St. Paul de Loanda by way of the Barotse Valley, Balonda 
Land, the Leeba, and the Congo Valley — Return to Linyanti — 
Discovery of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi — Journey through 
the Batonga Country — Danger at M'bende's Kraal — Narrow 
Escape — Arrival at Tete — Voyage down the Zambesi — Arrival at 
Quilimane — Voyage to Mauritius and Suicide of Sekwebu — Return 
to England, 81 

CHAPTER V. 

GALTON AND ANDERSSON IN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA. 

Arrival in "Walflsch Bay — The Hill-Damaras — Horrors of Raid on 
Damara Land — Ascent of Erongo — Across Damara Land — Meeting 
with Ovampos — Compelled to turn back — Through Ovampo — 
Ondonga and King Nangoro — Back to Walfisch Bay — To Lake 
N'gaini from the West — Green and Chapman — Discovery of the 
Okavango River — Anderson "Wounded — His Last Journey, Dis- 
covery of the Cunene River, and Death, 125 

CHAPTER VI. 

BURTON, SPEKE, GRANT, AND VON DER DECKEN, AND THE DIS- 
COVERY OF LAKES TANGANYIKA AND ALBERT N'YANZA. 
Krapf and Rebmann's Discovery of Kilimanjaro and Kenia — Arrival 
of Burton and Speke at Zanzibar — Preliminary Excursions — Start 
for the West — Over the Mountains to Ujiji — Reception at Tura 
Nullah — The Land of the Moon and its People — Serious Illness of 
both Explorers — At the Lake at last — Speke's Blindness — Voyage 
up the Coast of Tanganyika — Difficulties at Ujiji — Trip to the 
North of the Lake — Disappointment and Return to Ujiji — Back 
again in the Land of the Moon — Speke's Journey in search of a 
Second Lake — Interview with a Female Ruler — Discovery of the 
Victoria N'yanza — Return Home — Arrival of Speke and Grant at 
Cape Town — Voyage to Zanzibar — Across Country to Uzinga — 
Entry of Karagwe — Cordial Reception and Pleasant Stay there — 
Grant's Illness and Detention — Speke in Uganda — Discovery of 
a Source of the Nile — Kamrasi and Ungoro — Return Home by way 
of Gondokoro — Von der Decken's Ascent of Kilimanjaro — Murder 
of Von der Decken in Galla Land — Recent Discoveries of Snow- 
capped Volcanoes, 141 

CHAPTER VII. 

LIVINGSTONE'S SECOND JOURNEY, AND THE WORK OF 
KARL MAUCH. 

Arrival at the Mouth of the Zambesi — The Ma-Robert — War between 
the Half-castes and the Portuguese — At Sena with Senhor Ferrao 
— Livingstone's old Makololo Servants — Their Sufferings in his 



Contents, 



5 



Absence — Excursion to Kebrabasa — First Visit to Manganja Land 
— Chief Chibisa — On Foot to Lake Shirwa — Bad Behaviour of the 
Ma-Kobert — Up the Shire again, and Discovery of Lake Nyassa — 
Back to Tete, and down to the Kongone with the Ma-Kobert — ■ 
Journey to Makololo Land — Rescue of Baldwin at the Victoria 
Falls — News of Sekeletu's Leprosy, and the Misery of his People — 
Arrival at Sesheke — Interview with Sekeletu— His Lady-Doctor 
superseded by Kirk and Livingstone — A Month at Sesheke — News 
of the Sufferings of Missionaries — Over the Rapids, and Narrow 
Escapes — On Foot to Tete — The Last of the Ma-Robert — Arrival 
of Pioneer and of Bishop Mackenzie — Trip up the Rovuma — 
Return to the Shire, and up that River with the Mission Party 
— Horrors of Slave-trade, and Rescue of Slaves — A Struggle 
with Ajawa — Farewell to Bishop Mackenzie — Fugitives in the 
Papyrus on a Lake — Arrival of Mrs. Livingstone and other Ladies 
— Sad Death of Bishop Mackenzie — Death of Mrs. Livingstone — 
The Lady Nyassa — Her Launch — Her Trip up the Shire — Sudden 
Recall of Expedition — Return to Mouth of the Zambesi — Home via 
Mozambique, Zanzibar, and Bombay — Mauch and his Discovery of 
Gold Fields and Mines near Sofala — Mohr and Baines, . ,183 

CHAPTER. VIII. 

WESTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORERS. 

Magyar's Marriage with an African Princess, and J ourneys in Congo, 
&c. — Du Chaillu's Arrival in the Gaboon — The Mpongwes — Ascent 
of the River — A Chase — Start for the Cannibal Country — The 
Sierra de Cristal Range — First Meeting with Gorillas — Fan Warriors 
— A Gorilla Hunt — Horrors of Cannibalism amongst the Fans — 
Compelled to turn back — Down the Coast to the Fernand Vaz — A 
young Gorilla — Up the Rembo — Encounters with Gorillas — Terrible 
Executions at Goumbi — Entry of Ashira Land — King Olenda — 
Apingi Land and its Chief — A Black Man offered to Du Chaillu 
for Supper — Du Chaillu made King of Apingi Land — Fever, and 
Return to the Coast — Second Journey to Ashira Land — Mouth of 
the Cammi — Another Gorilla Captured — The Junction of the 
Niembai and Ovenga — Olenda again — Trip to the Falls of the 
Ngouyai — Long Delay at Olenda's Village — Small-pox and Famine 
— Death of Quengueza — Start for the East — Entry of Otando Land 
— Terror of the Natives — On the Borders of Ishogo — A Dwarf 
Tribe — Quarrel with Natives — Narrow Escape, and Flight to the 
Coast — Return to Europe— Du Chaillu's Discoveries confirmed 
by Monteiro, Bastian, and Burton, 231 

CHAPTER IX. 

Livingstone's last journey and death 

New Expedition resolved on — Arrival at Zanzibar — Across Country to 
the Nyassa — Desertion of Sepoys — Arrival on the Shores of the 
Lake — No Canoes — Round the South of the Lake by Land — 
Rumours of Murder of Arabs — Desertion of Johanna Men — Report 



6 



Contents. 



of Livingstone's Death — Search Expedition under Young — West- 
wards — The Mazitu — To the North for Tanganyika — Further Deser- 
tions and Loss of Medicine Chest — Fever — Arrival at Tanganyika — - 
Lake Moero on the West — Attempt to reach it frustrated — Chance 
of returning home declined — Off for Lake Moero at last — Arrival 
on its Shores exhausted — Down the Lake to Cazembe's — Kumours 
of another Lake on the South — Start for the South with Moham- 
med Mograbin — Horrors of the Slave-trade — Guides for the Lake 
at last — Discovery of Lake Bangweolo — To the Island of Mbalala 
— Mutiny of Crew — Compelled to turn back — War and Rumours 
of War— Flight to the North with the Arabs — Back to Tanganyika, 
and awful Sufferings by the Way — Across the Lake to Ujiji — Back 
again to the Western Shores — Start for Manyuema with Arab 
Slave-traders — Delay at Bambarre — Arbitrary Proceedings of the 
Arabs — A Trip to the North — Desertion of all the Men but five — 
Return to Bambarre, and long Delay there with Bad Feet — The 
Disease of Heart-brokenness — Arrival of Men from the Coast, and 
Fresh Start for the Lualaba — Arrival at Nyangwe — Awful Massacre 
of Native Women — Livingstone determines to return — An Ambush 
and Narrow Escape — Cannibalism — Arrival at Ujiji in an Exhausted 
State — Stores, &c, Stolen — Despair — Opportune Arrival of Stanley 
— Stanley's Journey from Zanzibar — Trip with Stanley to the North 
of Tanganyika — To Unyanyembe with Stanley — Parting with 
Stanley — Return alone to Unyanyembe — Long and Dreary Waiting 
there — Arrival of Stanley's Men — Start for the South-West — 
Round the Southern Extremity of Tanganyika — Across Country to 
Bangweolo — Terrible Sufferings amongst the Sponges and Marshes 
— Across the Chambeze or Lualaba at last — Serious Illness — Living- 
stone is carried on the Shoulders of his Men — Rapidly-increasing 
Weakness — A Litter is made — The Last Service — The last few 
miles of march — Arrival at Chitambo's — Erection of Hut — Last 
Words — Death — Susi and Chumah chosen Captains — Preservation 
of Livingstone's Body — The Burial Service read — The Corpse 
Packed for Travelling — The Return March to the North-East — 
Meeting with Cameron at Unyanyembe — To the Coast with Dr. 
Dillon and Lieutenant Murphy — Suicide of Dillon — Arrival at 
Bagamoyo — Embarkation of Corpse for England — Funeral in West- 
minster Abbey, , .273 

CHAPTER X. 
Cameron's journey across Africa. 
Cameron appointed to the Command of the Livingstone Relief Expedi- 
tion — Arrival at Zanzibar — To Bagamoyo — Fracas with an Arab — 
Robert Moffat — To Mkombenga — Dillon's Illness — Arrival of 
Murphy and News of Moffat's Death — Across Ugogo and Mgunda 
M'kali to Unyanyembe— Long Delay and Serious Illness — News 
of Livingstone's Death — Arrival of Livingstone's Body— Dillon 
and Murphy start with it for the Coast — Dillon's Suicide — 
Cameron resolves to go west alone — From Unyanyembe to Ujiji — 
Cruise on Lake Tanganyika— Discovery of the Lukuga, the Outlet 



Contents. 



7 



of Tanganyika — Back again to Ujiji — From Ujiji to Manyuema — 
The Lualaba at last — Up the River to Nyangwe — No Canoes to 
be had — Disappointment and Resolution to go with Tippu-Tib — 
News of Lake Sankorra — To Tippu-Tib's Camp on the Lomani — 
Conflicts with Natives and Fever — At Kasono's — Hopes of going 
thence to Lake Sankorra disappointed — Trip to Lake Molonga — 
An Ambush — Cameron's Goat Stolen — Fight with Natives — 
Escape to another Village and Entrenchment there — Peace — Off 
again for Lake Mohyra — Arrival on its Shores — Floating Tillages 
and Huts — Back to Kilemba — Decides to go to Benguela with 
Alvez — Trip to Lake Kassali — Return to Kilemba — Start for the 
West at last — Horrors by the way — Arrival in Portuguese Districts 
in Absolute Destitution — Sale of Shirts and Great-coat for Food 
— Kamgumba's Gift of a Goat — Arrival at Alvez Settlement and 
Journey thence to Benguela — The Sea at last — Welcome from 
M. Cauchoix — Serious Illness at Katombela — Voyage to St. Paul 
de Loanda — Reception there— Embarkation for England, . . 342 

CHAPTER XL 
Stanley's journey from sea to sea. 
Stanley's Arrival in Zanzibar and Preliminary Trip up the Rufiji — 
The Start for the Interior— From Ugogo to Urimi— The Medical 
Stores broken open — Death of Edward Pocock — Launch of the 
Lady Alice on the Victoria N'yanza — Visit to King Mtesa ot 
Uganda — Death of Barker— From Usukuma to Lake Albert — At 
the Lukuga Creek — Across Manyuema to Nyangwe — Desertion of 
Arab Escort — Down the Lualaba — Stopped by Rapids — Death of 
Frank Pocock— Across the Mountains to Boma — The Future of 
African Exploration, • . . • . . . . 377 

CHAPTER XII. 

WORK DONE SINCE 1876. 

The International African Association — Meeting of the Berlin Con- 
ference — Foundation of Congo State — Expeditions of Grenfell, 
Wolf, and others — Discovery of Kasai-Sankuru System — Life-Story 
of Congo — Serpa Pinto — Discoveries in Zambesia — African Lakes 
Company — Work of Thomson, Holub, and others — Emin Pasha — 
Journey of Stanley to his relief — Sufferings of Rear Column — 
Journey to Zanzibar — Summary of Work done .... 387 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE AGE OF GOLD. 
End of the Pioneer Stage — The Discovery of the Diamond-Fields — 
Cecil Rhodes — The Annexation of the Transvaal — The Zulu War 
—The Boer Revolt— The Age of Gold— The Growth of South 
African Trade — The Rise of Johannesberg — Lobengula — The 
Chartered Company — The Matabele War — "Jameson's Raid" — 
The Matabele again in Arms — The Progress of Rhodesia — The 
Development of Civilisation . . . . . . .395 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Cecil Rhodes ....... Frontispiece 

Vasco da Gama . ...... 13 

Types of Hottentots, etc. . . . . . .20 

Scene in Basuto Land . . . . . . 22 

Forest near the Coast of Natal . . . . .24 

Zulu-Kaffirs in Ordinary Dress . . . . .25 

Zulu- Kaffirs in War Costume . . . , .25 

South African Waggon . . . . . .28 

Hottentot . . . . . . . .29 

Hottentot Woman and Child . . . . .32 

Street in a Bechuana Town . . . 33 

Group of Cacti . . . . . . .35 

South African War-dance . . . . 40 

Portraits of typical Bushmen and Children . . .42 

Ant-hill in South Africa . . . . . .48 

Namaqua Women . . . . . . .55 

Euphorbia Trees ....... 57 

Bushmen making a Fire . . . . . .60 

Bushwoman in Holiday Attire . . . . .61 

A Bushman's Equipment . . . . . .62 

Hottentot Weapons and Domestic Utensils . . .62 

Bushmen's Weapons ....... 63 

Bushmen's Cave in Griqua Land . . . . .67 

Locust ........ 74 

Scene in South Africa . ... . . .80 

Dr. Livingstone . . . . . . .80 

A " Hopo," or Game-trap . . . • . . .86 

Bakalahari Women laying in a stock of Water . . .90 

Bakwains making Karosses . . . . . .91 



Illustrations. 



PAGE 

Dr. Livingstone's Reception in Loanda . . . .110 

Village in Basuto Land . . , . . .124 

Flamingo ........ 126 

Bakalahari Women and Children going to fetch Water . ' . 136 
African Primeval Forest ...... 138 

Spring, or Sucking-place ...... 140 

View of Mombasa ....... 142 

View in Zanzibar . . . • • . .144 

River-side Scene at Asaba ...... 150 

View of Zanzibar . . . . • • .160 

Interview with the Queen-Mother of Uganda . • . 172 

Transport of Ivory to the Coast ..... 174 

Interview with a Manganja Chief ..... 190 

Murchison Falls . . . . . . .218 

Papyrus ........ 221 

A Kaffir Village ....... 228 

Bushman . . . . . . . . 230 

View of Sea-shore of Congo ...... 232 

Mpongwes in their Canoes meeting a Ship • . . 234 

Mission Station on the Gaboon River .... 236 

Shooting a Gorilla . . . . . . .246 

View on the Shores of the Fernand Vaz .... 248 

Encounter with a Gorilla ...... 250 

Meeting between Livingstone and Stanley .... 320 

On the Eastern Shores of Lake Tanganyika . . . 322 

Carrying Livingstone's Body to the Coast . . ... 338 

Kaffir Mission Church ...... 341 

Village in Manyuema . . . . . .358 

Floating Hut on Lake Mohyra ..... 369 

President Kruger ....... 402 

Dr. Jameson ........ 408 



Heroes of Discovery in South Africa. 



CHAPTEE I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by Diaz — Yasco da Gama — Almeida 
and Albuerquerque— Early Explorations on the East Coast — First 
Colonisation of the Cape — Sufferings of the Natives — Humane Policy 
of the English — Kaffraria and its Annexation — Basuto Land and 
Moshesh — Natal Annexed to the Cape Colony — Griqua Land — The 
Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics. 

TO trace the course of South African exploration it is 
not necessary to go further back than the close of the 
fifteenth century, when (1486) the Cape of Good Hope was 
discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, aPortuguese officer in the 
service of King Henry II. Early navigators, as we have 
seen in our Heroes of Discovery in North Africa, had, it is 
true, rounded the now well-known promontory, but it had 
been, so to speak, unconsciously, without more than a dim 
recognition of the fact that they had passed the long-sought 
extremity of the African continent. Even Diaz was at 
first blind to the importance of the progress made, for he 
had sailed down the western coast and some little distance 
up the eastern, before the sight of land on the left instead 

B — (S.A.) 



12 



Diaz and Da Gama. 



of the right hand revealed to him his own discovery. A 
narrow escape from shipwreck, the finding of the remains 
of a companion vessel near the point now known as Port 
Elizabeth (S. lat. 34°), and the terrible accounts of the few 
survivors of its crew who had escaped massacre at the 
hands of the blacks, combined so to terrify the sailors under 
Diaz, that he was compelled most reluctantly to return 
home without having advanced further north than Algoa 
Bay, a little above Port Elizabeth. Noting more particularly 
the features of the newly discovered districts as he again 
slowly sailed along their coasts, he made out rugged rocks 
alternating with dreary stretches of sand, and, rounding for 
a second time the termination of the great Table Mountain, 
with its huge bulk sloping up to a height of 3582 feet above 
the sea-level, he gave to its most southerly point the 
ominous name of the Cape of all the Storms ( Cdbo de todos 
los tormentos), subsequently changed by Henry II. of 
Portugal to that it still bears. 

On his arrival in Lisbon, in December, 1487, Diaz was at 
first greeted with enthusiasm, and his heart beat high witft 
the hope of being shortly enabled to prosecute his researches 
with adequate forces and means. But alas! year after year 
passed by, leaving all his petitions to his Government un- 
noticed, and it required the discovery of America without 
its aid to rouse the Court of Portugal to a sense of the 
golden opportunities it was letting slip in its short-sighted 
apathy. An important expedition was at last (1497) sent 
out to discover a new and southern passage to India, but 
even then it was not Diaz, but Vasco da Gama who was 
appointed to the supreme command. Eager to share, if 
only as a subordinate, in the prosecution of the work begun 
by him, our first hero obtained permission to go on board 



A Storm off the Cape. 



13 



one of the three vessels composing the little fleet, but hia 
jealous successor sent him back to Portugal from the Cape 
Verd Islands. With that melancholy return ended his 
career as a South African explorer, but we may add that 
three years later he joined Cabral, the discoverer of Brazil, 
and was drowned in a storm on the 29th May, 1500. 
Having got rid of his unfortunate rival, Da Gama followed 




VASCO DA GAMA. 

his example by steering due south, and after much stormy 
weather and many a narrow escape from shipwreck, he cast 
anchor in the haven now called Table Bay on the 16th 
November, 1497, five months from the date of his departure 



14 



On the Coast of Natal. 



from Lisbon. Overtaken a few days later by a terrible 
storm, justifying the name first given to the Cape by Diaz, 
and embarrassed by mutiny amongst his men, Da Gama 
with difficulty managed to round the formidable promon- 
tory. Once past it, however, the aspect of affairs brightened, 
the terrified sailors recovered their spirits, and crowded 
eagerly to the sides of the vessels to watch the natives 
riding on the still famous Cape oxen, or tilling the planta- 
tions dotted with their conical huts. In the distance, herds 
of wild elephants were seen tossing their trunks in the air, 
and close in shore sported hundreds and thousands of seals. 
Amicable relations were soon opened with the blacks, who 
were ready to exchange oxen, sheep, and ivory for bells, 
glass beads, and coloured cloths. The coasts of the present 
Cape Colony and Kaffraria were in due course left behind, 
and that of Natal — so called on account of its being the 
time of the Nativity of Christ when it was first sighted — 
was reached. Here Da Gama found a numerous and fine- 
looking population, who spoke a language different to that 
of the bushmen of the neighbouring districts, and were 
governed by a king of considerable intelligence, whose 
friendship was won by the presentation of a pair of red 
pantaloons, and other articles of wearing apparel. So taken 
were the natives of this coast with their white visitors, that 
they hurried to bring them drinking vessels when they 
stooped to quench their thirst at the fresh- water streams 
running down to the sea, and almost forced their bone and 
ivory ornaments upon the acceptance of the Portuguese 
sailors, overwhelming them with wild gestures of gratitude 
in return for the smallest gift of linen or beads. 

Pressing on in a north-easterly direction, the adventurous 
mariners arrived at the mouth of the now famous Zambesi, 



From the Cape to India. 



15 



and scurvy having broken out amongst his followers, he 
decided to land on an island near the coast, in the hope 
of obtaining some definite information regarding the 
maritime route to India, the discovery of which was the 
main object of his voyage. Little, however, was to be 
learned of the thick-skulled woolly-haired negroes here, and 
as soon as his men were fit to work, Da Gama again 
weighed anchor. After an interesting visit to the present 
province of Mozambique, then inhabited by a slim, tall, 
light-brown, intelligent race, and a slight skirmish with 
some Moorish settlers in the more northerly Nubia of 
modern times, he came at last to Melinda (S. lat. 3° 12') in 
Zanzibar. Here, to his delighted surprise, he obtained 
not only full instructions on the subject he had most at 
heart, but the services of a well-trained pilot, a native of 
India, under whose guidance he crossed the Indian Ocean, 
and arrived at Calicut, on the north-eastern coast of India, 
on the 20th May, 1498, thus opening direct communication 
between the east and west, and striking a first blow at the 
long-maintained commercial supremacy of the Italian 
Eepublics, by rendering possible the transference of that 
supremacy to Western Europe. 

In September, 1499, after two years and five months 
absence, Da Gama, having touched again at Melinda on his 
homeward voyage, landed in Lisbon, where he was most 
enthusiastically received. In 1502, this time with a fleet of 
twenty vessels under his command, he paid another visit to 
the eastern coast of Africa, and founded the still existing 
Portuguese settlements of Sofala and Mozambique. 

The work thus begun by Da Gama was vigorously 
carried on, somewhat later, by Francesco dAlmeida and 
Alfonso d'Albuerquerque, who successively visited the 



16 



Discovery of Congo. 



eastern coast of Africa, founding forts at every commanding 
position on the coast, and displacing alike the negroes, 
natives, and the Arab settlers, descendants of the conquerors 
who overran North Africa, and penetrated far below the 
equator, in the tenth century a.d. Almeida, after a success- 
ful career as Viceroy of India, landed at Table Bay on his 
return voyage, and was killed with some twenty of his men 
in a scuffle with the native Hottentots, but no trustworthy 
details of the tragic event ever reached Europe. Gradually 
the Portuguese extended their jurisdiction from about the 
twenty-fifth parallel S. lat. to the equator, and Sofala and 
ilozambique are still nominally under their sway, but the 
more northerly Zanzibar reverted to the Moors about 
1785, and is still nominally governed by a Saltan or 
Seyid, although, as a matter of fact, the Imperial British 
East African Company and the German East African 
association have between them absorbed nearly the whole 
of what was, until the last two decades, a powerful East 
African kingdom. 

On the western, as on the eastern coast of South Africa, 
the Portuguese were the first to gain a footing. Starting 
from Fort Mina on the Gold Coast, which had become the 
central point of the Portuguese settlements in North Africa, 
Diego Cam (about 1436 or 1487) acting under the instruc- 
tions of his sovereign, John II., continued the work of 
Prince Henry the Navigator (noticed in our Heroes of 
Discovery in North Africa), and reached the mouth of the 
now well-known Congo (S. lat. 6°), ascended that river 
for a considerable distance, made friends with the natives, 
and, after convincing them of his friendly intentions, 
actually carried off a large party to Portugal, promising, 
however, before weighing anchor, that he would bring his 



Andrew Battel. 



17 



compulsory guests back to their native land in fifteen 
months. He left some of his own people on shore as host- 
ages, and, true to his word, returned the following year to 
find all well and happy. Landing the natives, he then 
made a trip of some 200 leagues down the coast of what 
is now the Congo Free State, paid a visit to one of the 
many native chiefs, who received him with great courtesy, 
and finally, laden with ivory, and accompanied by two 
young Africans, he again set sail for Lisbon. Two years 
later, the natives were sent back under charge of an 
ambassador and numerous missionaries. The latter, find- 
ing the ground already prepared for the reception of the 
good seed of Christianity by the earlier Portuguese settlers, 
prospered so well in their efforts to convert the natives, 
that the first stone of a Christian church was laid the very 
week of their arrival, and on the same day the chief and 
many of his subjects were baptised. Unfortunately, this 
auspicious beginning had not all the favourable results 
expected, for when it came to the enforcement of Christian 
morality, and the chief was urged to put away his 
numerous wives, he was so disgusted that he and all his 
people renounced the new faith and went back to pagan- 
ism. The eldest son of the faithless chief, however, 
remained firm, and on his accession to power a few years 
later, the country again professed Eoman Catholicism. 

Two centuries after the first arrival of the Portuguese, 
the Court of Eome directed its attention to the wide field 
offered for proselytism by the unexplored districts of the 
Congo basin, and, one after another, zealous missionaries 
were sent out, of whom the Capuchin monks, Carli, Angelo, 
and Merolla, were perhaps the most energetic. Full 
details of their work are given in vol xvi. of Pinkertons 



18 



Back again to the Cape. 



Voyages, but they added nothing or next to nothing to 
geographical knowledge. We turn, therefore, from them 
to a certain Andrew Battel, an Englishman, who was sent 
(about 1590) by the Portuguese a prisoner to Angola, or 
Donga, the name formerly given to the whole of the 
districts south of the Congo, though now restricted to the 
Portuguese possessions. During eighteen years' detention 
in these parts, Battel made trading excursions, on behalf 
of his captors, to Loango on the north of the Congo and 
Benguela on the south of Angola. 

In his own account of his adventures, reprinted in vol. 
xvi. of PinTeerton's Voyages, Battel describes the cannibalism 
of a fearful race, to which he gives the name of the Gogos, 
inhabiting a border district of Benguela, and tells of the 
bigoted fetichism prevailing in every community visited by 
him. Of the general features of the West African coast 
districts, such as the great number of the rivers, the 
luxuriant tropical and sub-tropical vegetation, and the 
abundance of wild animals, he also gives interesting de- 
tails, and he enumerates fully the chief articles of trade, 
including copper, iron, and ivory, but, like the missionaries, 
he says nothing of the course of the rivers, or the nature 
of the interior of Western Africa ; and not until the present 
century was any really definite information obtained on 
either of these points. 

The country between Benguela and Namaqua Land was 
not visited by Europeans until about 1583, when Galton 
and Andersson entered it from Walfich Bay. Barren, 
sterile, desolate, and, as seen from the deck of passing 
vessels, uninhabited, it offered no attraction either to the 



Scenery of the Cape Colony. 19 

missionary or the trader, the sole forerunners of modern 
explorers, on whom the unpromising aspect of a country 
exercises a fascination all its own. To complete our sum- 
mary of early discovery, therefore, we must return to the 
Cape of Good Hope, which, strange to say, though passed 
by Sir Francis Drake in his celebrated voyage of 1580, 
was left almost unnoticed, from the time of Diaz, Da 
Gama, and Almeida, until 1652, when the Dutch, expelled 
from South America, and thus deprived of their stations 
between Europe and India, founded Cape Town, the earliest 
settlement of Europeans in the extensive and important 
Cape Colony. 

A castle, enclosing the nucleus of that erected by Von 
Kiebeck* and the first Dutch settlers, as a protection 
against natives and the wild beasts, such as lions, tigers, 
leopards, &c, then abounding in the dense neighbouring 
forests, forms, with the towering Table Mountain behind 
it, the most noteworthy feature of the Cape as seen from 
vessels arriving in the harbour. Beyond Cape Town and 
the Table Mountain on the west stretch vast plains, fruitful 
patches of argillaceous or clayey soil alternating with 
reedy swamps or arid sands. These are flanked on the 
north by huge mountain-terraces, the lowest slopes of that 
vast range which, beginning under the name of the 
Nieuwveld Mountains, runs parallel with the coast for a 
distance of 100 miles, forming an almost impassable barrier 



* A few years ago this castle was condemned to destruction as unsafe ; 
but there was such an outcry amongst the colonists at the idea of removing 
the one antiquity of the country, that it was saved. 



20 Early Settlers at the Cape. 

to the traveller, the rugged kloofs or ravines breaking its 
defences here and there having been, until quite recently, 
almost the only means of communication with the districts 
to the north. Bugged perpendicular rocks hem in the 
adventurer on either side, whilst now and then some 
rushing mountain torrent threatens to sweep him down 
into the abyss.* Miles and miles may be traversed with- 
out meeting with a single living creature or plant, but at 
intervals the eye is cheered by the sight of a clump of the 
curious Protea cynaroides, with their brilliant red flowers 
and hard dry woody evergreen leaves clustering about 
their thick, clumsy-looking stems. 

The earliest settlers in this land of plain and mountain 
were simple-hearted folk, bent on getting a livelihood for 
themselves and their families in a natural way by tilling 
the soil, &c. They did not, as was so often the case later 
on, quarrel with their neighbours, and no idea of the con- 
quest of the surrounding districts ever entered their minds. 
They traded honestly with the aborigines, an ugly but 
interesting race, with high cheek-bones, oblique eyes, broad 
foreheads, and yellowish brown complexions, to whom they 
gave the name of Hottentots, supposed to have been sug- 
gested by the peculiar clicking noise made in pronouncing 
many words in their language. The result of this apathy 
was the maintenance for some time of amicable rela- 
tions between natives and settlers ; but, as the numbers of 
the colonists increased by the arrival of reinforcements 
from home, and the importance of the new station as a 
half-way house between Europe and India became more 



* The first Cape railway was begun in 1859, and since then 1,599 miles 
of rails have been laid down by the various companies. 




TYPES OF HOTTENTOTS, ETC. 



Oppression of the Natives. 



21 



fully recognised, the lust of conquest and aggrandisement 
was aroused in the breasts of the Boers, as the Dutch 
settlers in South Africa are called, and the days of peace 
and mutual goodwill were soon over for ever. Little by 
little, step by step, the unhappy natives were driven further 
and further into the interior. The once proud tribes of 
Attaquas, Hessaquas, Dammaras, Saabs, Namaquas, and 
Koranas, with the despised Bosjemen or Bushmen, forming 
the great Hottentot family, were reduced to the condition 
of wanderers in their native land, or became hewers of wood 
and drawers of water to their cruel conquerors. A price 
of from 10 to 20 gulden was set on the head of every 
ordinary native, and one of from 50 to 100 gulden on that 
of a chief, so that a positive war of extermination may be 
said to have been commenced. Houses of stone, the homes 
of Dutch farmers, replaced the fragile conical native huts 
which had formerly dotted the country; whole districts 
were annexed by the unscrupulous invaders; and when, 
driven to desperation by their accumulated miseries, the 
unhappy Hottentots turned against their oppressors, 
attempting retaliation by raids upon their flocks and herds, 
they were treated as rebels against a lawful Government. 
An appeal was made to Holland for reinforcements against 
the "depraved and pernicious natives," and in 1770, to the 
shame of the Dutch be it spoken, the total extermination 
of all full-grown male Hottentots not yet reduced to 
servitude was resolved upon. The women and children 
were to be reserved for the more terrible fate of slavery, 
and to be divided amongst the members of the military 
expedition to be sent against them, or sold to the settlers. 

To carry out this iniquitous scheme, three regiments 
landed at Cape Town in 1774, commanded respectively by 



22 The Cape Colony annexed to England. 

Van Wyk, Marias, and Vander Merwe. According to the 
official reports, each of these " worthies" succeeded in a 
very short space of time in killing a large number of men, 
and capturing their wives and children, and encouraged by 
these results, similar expeditions were sent cut later, until 
at last every kraal or native village within marching 
distance of the Cape was depopulated. By the close of 
the eighteenth century the Dutch dominion had spread on 
the east as far as the Great Fish Eiver, and contained a 
white population of 20,000, every family of which possessed 
a greater or lesser number of native slaves. The misfor- 
tunes of the unhappy Hottentots were further aggravated 
by the warlike attitude of their neighbours on the east, the 
sturdy Kaffirs, an intelligent and powerful race of many sub- 
divisions, who began their encroachments on the south- 
west as early as 1688, and had driven the much enduring 
Hottentots down to Great Fish Eiver before the close of 
the seventeenth century. 

Matters were in this condition when the Cape Colony 
was seized by a British force, acting under the orders 
of the Prince of Orange, and by it held for five years, 
during which period the sufferings of the natives were, 
if possible, greater than before, the expelled Dutch 
settlers being driven to make new raids upon them to 
ensure their own support. In 1802 the Colony reverted to 
the Dutch, but in 1806 it became the permanent property 
of our Government, and we are glad to be able to add that, 
in spite of many mistakes and shortcomings, the policy of 
England in dealing with her unruly settlement has been 
characterised by justice and humanity. The enslaved 
Hottentots have been gradually restored to freedom, and 
as farm labourers, herdsmen, and drovers they are found 



Kaffraria and Basuto Land. 23 



to make good servants. Missionaries have been encouraged 
to settle in all districts under British sway, and in the 
course of our narrative we shall make individual acquaint- 
ance with many of them. 

Bounding the Cape Colony on the north-west is the well- 
watered, undulating, and fruitful district shut in by the 
beautiful Amatola mountain range, long known as Kaffraria, 
inhabited by the numerous branches of the great Kaffir 
family, and annexed to the British possessions in South 
Africa in 1851, after a series of disastrous wars, in which 
the power of the great chiefs, such as Macomo, Pato, and 
Seyolo, was finally broken. 

On the north of Kaffraria, and between it and the present 
Orange Eiver Free State, lies the mountainous Basuto land 
enclosing the impregnable fastnesses of the Drachenberg 
Mountains, known by the natives as Quathlamba, which 
form the easterly continuation of the range running under 
different names from the Table Mountain far up into the 
Portuguese possessions on the north-east. In these rocky 
wilds dwell the remnant of that once powerful race which, 
under the celebrated Basuto chief, Moshesh, so long held 
Dutch and English alike at bay from the fort of Thaba 
Bossion, and were at last, when threatened with total 
extermination by the Boers of Natal, taken under the pro- 
tection of the British. 

Bounding Kaffraria on the north-east is Natal, fertile, 
semi-tropical, and here and there densely wooded, well 
named the meadow of Africa, watered by the Buffalo, 
Umgani, and Umzimculi rivers, and rich in coal, copper 
ore, and iron. So far as we have been able to ascertain, 
Natal was not visited by Europeans from the time of its 
discovery in 1497 until 1822, when some white traders 

C — (S.A.) 



24 



Natal and Zulu Land. 



from the Cape landed on its shores, and found it under the 
sway of a bloody Zulu Kaffir, named Chaka, the pre- 
decessor of that Dingaan so treacherously murdered later 
by the Dutch Boers, who, when driven out of the Cape 
Colony, poured down into Natal, and made good their 
footing there, as they had done in other districts, by the 
wholesale destruction of the natives. The expulsion of the 
Boers in 1843, and the annexation of Natal to the Cape 




FOREST NEAR THE COAST OF NATAL. 

Colony, rescued but a little remnant of Zulus, who now 
dwell peaceably amongst the foreign settlers. 

On the north-east of Natal, and between it and the 
Portuguese possessions, is Zulu Land, a grassy, marshy, 
and unhealthy lowland district, still inhabited by inde- 



Zulu-Kaffir Tribes. 



pendent Zulu-Kaffir tribes, of whom we give a few typical 
portraits ; and in a small triangular strip of country on the 




ZULU-KAFFIRS TN ORDINARY DRESS. 



north-east of the Cape Colony, and divided from it by the 
Orange river, dwell a hybrid race, known as the Griquas, 




ZULU-KAFFIRS IN WAR COSTUME. 



descendants of the early Dutch settlers and the Hottentots. 
Between their homes and the great Drachenberg mountains 
stretch the vast plains of the Orange Eiver Free State, 



26 



Dutch Colonisation. 



with its one huge central mountain, the Hill of Night, or 
Tha Banchu, round which the early emigrant Boers drew 
up their waggons when they went forth from their old 
homes in the Cape Colony to seek new fields for enterprise 
amongst the herds of antelopes and quaggas, till then the 
only tenants of these unknown wastes. Gradually the 
whole of what is now called the Orange Free State was 
colonised by the Dutch, and during its temporary annexa- 
tion by the English, between 1843-54, they retired beyond 
the Vaal or Gariep, a branch of the Orange Eiver bounding 
it on the north, and founded the ever-increasing Transvaal 
or South African Eepublic, extending over more than six 
parallels of latitude, and including within its boundaries 
not only the newly-discovered diamond fields, but the 
healthiest and most fertile districts of all Africa.* 

Thus did Dutch colonists gradually make their way into 
the very heart of the lower half of the South African con- 
tinent, and by the middle of the present century, when the 
golden age of South African discovery began, their farms 
dotted the country as far north as the Limpopo river (S. lat. 
22°). Beyond stretched the districts inhabited by the 
Matabele and Makolo tribes of the great Zulu family, and 
on the west lived the untamed Bechuanas, their conical 
villages extending to the desolate Kalihari desert, dividing 
them from Namaqua Land,and extending from the northern 
banks of the Orange river to the N'gami region. 

* In 1877 the Transvaal was annexed by the British Crown, but after 
the Transvaal war, in which the English were worsted, the Boers received 
their land back with republican rights, the English Crown, however, 
retaining the right to negative extension of territory, foreign treaties, &c. 



CHAPTEE II. 



EAKLY EXPLORERS FROM THE SOUTH. 

Vaillant, Sparrmann, and Barrow — Paterson's Trips to Namaqua Land 
and Kaffraria — Liechtenstein's Visit to the Bechuana Tribe — Murder of 
Cowan and Denovan — Campbell's Yisits to Lattaku and to Namaqua 
Land — Campbell's Second Journey and Arrival at King Kossie's 
Capital — Burchell's abortive attempt to cross Africa — Moffat's im- 
mediate Predecessors. 

HAVING now acquired some general notion of the 
position of natives and settlers in the most southerly 
districts of Africa, we are free to follow the fortunes 
of individual explorers ; but to avoid traversing again 
and again the same ground, and adding yet more to 
the vast mass of literature recently published on the 
Cape Colony, we judge it best to content ourselves with 
naming as among the chief and earliest contributors to that 
literature the Frenchman Vaillant, who, in 1796-98, 
traversed the Dutch settlements from end to end, and 
visited Great and Little Namaqua Land; the Swedish 
naturalist, Sparrmann, who, in 1792 and the succeeding 
years, made more than one attempt to penetrate into the 
northern districts from the Cape; and the Englishman 
Barrow, who, in 1797, visited the Colony during its first 
brief occupancy by the British between 1802 and 1806, 
and in his account of his travels draws a touching picture 



28 Paterson among the Hottentots. 

of the condition to which the Hottentots were then 
reduced. 

As our first "hero of geographical discovery," we join 
Lieutenant William Paterson, who, in 1777 and 1778, made 
three trips in the Hottentot country north of the Cape, and 
one into Kaffraria, being, as is supposed, the first European 
to enter the latter province. 

In his first trip, Paterson advanced no further than the 
foot of the Schneuwberg Mountains, and met with no more 
thrilling adventure than an encounter with some so-called 
savages, who, advancing upon him with warlike gestures, 
retired on receiving a little tobacco. The second journey, 
however, had more important results. Guided by a young 
Dutchman possessing several farms up country, Paterson 
made in the first instance for the small Dutch town of 
Zwellendam, and thence for the Buffalo Eiver, where 
he was joined by the well-known settler, Van Eeenan. 
Having visited St. Catherine's Bay, some 280 miles from 
the Cape, our explorer, with a fresh team of oxen for 
the inevitable waggon, now so familiar to all travellers 
in South Africa, began his journey north by way of the 
Greener kloof or ravine. Crossing the Great Karroo 
or mountain-terrace, the most important of the barren 
table-lands, rising some 2000 feet above the sea-level, 
which form so remarkable a feature of the Cape Colony, 
then haunted by marauding Bushmen at war with the 
Dutch, he entered Little Namaqua Land, on the north-west 
of the Cape Colony, on the 21st August, 1778, arriving 
on the 27th of the same month at a large Hottentot kraal 
or village. Here the woolly-haired, thick-lipped natives 
entertained him and his companions with music and 
dancing, showing none of those savage qualities for which 



To the Oi'ange River. 



29 



the Dutch settlers were ever ready to give them credit. 
Indeed, the bows and arrows, without which no male native 
seemed ever to sally 



forth, were never 
used against the 
white guests, and 
nothing could ex- 
ceed the simple 
hospitality shown 
to them on every 
opportunity. 

Leaving the 
friendly Hottentot 
village on the 28 th 
August,but escorted 
by a native of Na- 
maqua Land, our 
heroes, enriching 
themselves by the 
way with botanical 
treasures, such as 




specimens and seeds hottentot. 

of the numerous aloes, euphorbias, &c, common in those 

regions, pressed on for the so-called Great Eiver, now 

known to be the Gariep, or eastern branch of the Orange 

River, visited by a Colonel Gordon (not the hero of the 

Soudan) the previous year, and named after the Prince of 

Orange. 

Keeping along the eastern bank of the river until the 
16th September, the three travellers crossed it on that day, 
narrowly escaping with their lives from two hippopotami, 
who pursued them to a rock in the middle of the stream. 



30- From Namaqua. Land to Kaffraria. 

Scrambling up it, with the wild river-horses snorting at 
their heels, all were saved, and the guns being loaded, the 
attacking party was driven off, one being shot, and the 
other swimming to the opposite shore. 

On the 19 th the three travellers pursued their way north- 
west through a country abounding in poisonous reptiles, 
elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, tigers, zebras, elks, koodoo 
antelopes, hyenas, and jackals, visited the now well-known 
copper mines, &c, and then, after a short excursion into 
the districts on the north, peopled by a wild and wandering 
race called Bush Hottentots, they returned to the Cape, 
along the Atlantic Ocean. 

In his third journey, Paterson, accompanied by a Dutch 
overseer named Tunies, turned his steps towards Kaffraria, 
then scarcely known to Europeans. Leaving Zwellendam 
on the 8th January, 1779, the two directed their course 
eastwards, passed the Zwartskop Eiver, the remarkable 
Zoutpan Lake, three or four miles in circumference, which 
at certain periods of the year is converted into a mass of 
fine white salt, the Sondags or Sundays Eiver, and on the 
morning of the 4th February, the party, augmented by Mr. 
Van Eeenan, and a Mr. J acob Koch, entered Kaffraria, then 
bounded on the west by Great Fish Eiver. Passing through 
the dense woods lining its banks, with nothing to guide 
them but an elephant-track, the little band of white men 
crossed the river on the afternoon of the same day, to find 
themselves in a beautiful plain, rich in evergreens and 
bulbous plants, such as the iris, succeeded by a wood some 
eight miles broad, beyond which they came in sight of the 
first Kaffir village. Approaching it cautiously, with 
natural doubt as to their reception, they were met at its 
entrance by three Kaffirs, wearing oxen hides, tails of 



King Khonta. 



31 



animals round their thighs, brass ornaments in their hair, 
and ivory rings on their arms, who showed great surprise 
at their appearance, they being, doubtless, the first white 
men ever seen by them. Turning their backs on their 
visitors in a manner far from encouraging, the advanced 
guard hastened to return to their village, to tell their 
fellow-countrymen of the approach of the strangers ; but on 
the entry of the latter, they were agreeably surprised at 
receiving a hearty welcome, and the immediate offer of milk 
and a fat bullock by way of refreshment. The natives 
then formed themselves into a kind of voluntary body- 
guard, and escorted their guests from one village to another, 
till they came to that of their chief, Khonta, who proved 
himself as hospitable as his subjects, offered Paterson a 
whole herd of bullocks, and was quite hurt at his declining 
to accept more than one. 

Like most Kaffirs, King Khonta was a tall, well-made 
man, with a jet black skin, large intelligent eyes, and 
gleaming white teeth. His house, with a rounded roof 
distinguishing it from the conical extremity of those of his 
Hottentot neighbours, was built on the bank of a stream, 
and he ruled over his people with patriarchal simplicity. 
Twenty-two servants accompanied him wherever he went, 
and his chief wealth consisted in the possession of some 
hundred cows and bullocks. He would gladly have 
detained his visitors for some days, but finding them 
unwilling to remain with him, he let them go, first pre- 
senting them with lances and baskets of native manufac- 
ture, the latter so closely woven of grass as to hold liquid 
of every kind. 

A short excursion to the east terminated this, Paterson's 
third trip, and on a fourth to the north-west, with the 



32 



In Bechuana Land. 



exception of a visit to the huts of some wild men living 
on the banks of the Orange Kiver, with whom he was 
unable to open any intercourse, he traversed no new ground, 
although, with the assistance of Colonel Gordon, again his 
comrade, he was able to confirm some of the discoveries of 
his second journey. 

The information given to the world by Paterson, Vaillant, 
Sparrmann, and Barrow, was considerably supplemented in 
1803-1806 by Henry Lichtenstein, a native of Holland, 
who accompanied Governor Janssens in his progress 
through the Cape Colony and the districts to the north, 
after the temporary reversion of the former to the Dutch 
by the stipulations of the treaty of Amiens. The first two 
years of Lichtenstein's absence from Europe were mainly 
occupied in examining districts already noticed, or more 
fully described below, but in the third he penetrated into 
the Bechuana country, of which little or nothing was then 
known. Accompanied by a Griqua Christian chief, named 
Solomon Kok, a convert of the missionary Kicherer, who 
had long been at work amongst the natives in Griqua 
Land and other northerly districts, the little party of 
Europeans were warmly welcomed by the herdsmen watch- 
ing their flocks in the border land watered by the now 
famous Kuruman Eiver, and were by them conducted to 
the residence of their king, Mulihawang, a tall, manly- 
looking fellow of about sixty, wearing a large mantle 
carelessly draped about his shoulders, and a round 
pointed cap. The palace of this monarch was of circular 
form, with the roof running up to a point, and was 
but little superior to the houses of his subjects, all of 
which were, however, remarkable amongst other similar 
native structures for durability and size. The people 





HOTTENTOT WOMAN AND CHILD. 



The Beckuanas. 



33 



of the district visited by Liechtenstein were a simple 
peaceful race, well skilled in agricultural pursuits, but 
extremely ignorant of everything connected either with 
religion or the affairs of their neighbours. Some few of the 
women and children were really beautiful, and a degree of 
modesty, rare in the tribes of South Africa, prevailed 
amongst both sexes. The greater part of the body was 




-STREET IN A BECHUANA TOWN, 



covered with mantles made of the skins of animals (see our 
illustration), chiefly of antelopes and jackals, those of tigers, 
leopards, and giraffes being reserved for the wealthy few. 

Lichtenstein's travels in the Bechuana country were 
prematurely cut short in 1806 by the declaration of war 
between the Dutch and English, compelling him to return 
to his native land with but half his programme carried out. 
The speedy subjugation of the Colony by the British forces, 
however, once more left the field open alike to the mission- 



34 



John Campbell. 



ary and the explorer, and in 1807, Dr. Cowan and Captain 
Denovan made an attempt to penetrate through the Bechuana 
country to the Portuguese settlements in Mozambique. 
They are supposed to have passed safely beyond the 
Kuruman into the districts visited a little later by Camp- 
bell, but to have been cut off by fever in descending the 
river Limpopo. 

Amongst the many missionaries sent out by various 
societies in the early part of the present century, some few 
added geographical research to their labours amongst the 
heathen. Of these, one of the earliest was John Campbell, 
commissioned by the London Missionary Society in 1812, 
shortly after the final occupation by the English of the 
Cape Colony, to visit and inspect the missionary stations 
in it and the neighbouring districts. 

Campbell arrived at Cape Town on the 23d October, 
1812, and having duly made himself acquainted with the 
condition of its schools for slaves, under Dutch or English 
missionaries, he repaired to Stellenbosh, then a quaint little 
town, with carved and whitewashed houses, set down in a 
valley shut in by mountains. Here, as in Cape Town, our 
hero found missionaries hard at work, and superintending 
large schools attended by male and female slaves, eager to 
learn all that could be taught them. At Genadendal and 
Caledon, or Zwarteberg, villages within easy distance of 
Stellenbosh, the Moravian and London Missionaries were 
also actively employed, and early in February, 1813, Camp- 
bell, encouraged by all he had seen, was able to start for 
Bethelsdorp, an important nucleus of missionary effort, in 
the district of Uitenhage, near Algoa Bay, and 450 miles 
east of Cape Town. With two waggons, drawn by teams 
of oxen and driven by natives, our hero made his way 



Across country to Mussel Bay. 35 

over the steep and difficult Hottentot Holland's Kloof 
or ravine, along the Bot Biver, and across country to 
Zwellendam, beyond which he pressed on iu an easterly 
direction through the then dense bush, bright with 
tropical flowers, chiefly cacti (of which we give a group 
of specimens), across one river after another, to the shores 




GROUP OF CACTI. 



of Mussel Bay, everywhere finding evidences of the civil- 
ising results of his predecessors' work. From George, a 
growing Dutch settlement overlooking the Bay, excursions 
were made to the Hottentot kraals of Hooge and Zurebrak, 
where the natives crowded round Campbell, and listened 
with interest to his impromptu sermons. Between George 
and Bethelsdorp many a long compulsory halt was made, 
owing to the rugged nature of the country traversed, the 
waggons requiring each a double team of 26 oxen to 
d — (s.a.) 



36 From Bethelsdorp to Graham's Town. 

get them up some of the kloofs or ravines ; but patience 
that indispensable characteristic of a successful African 
traveller, appears never to have failed Campbell, and in his 
spirited account of his adventures he makes no complaint. 
Whilst waiting for his men to get the wheels of his carts 
out of some unusually obstinate rut, he would enter into 
conversation now with a Dutch boor, now with a Hottentot 
slave, and the appendix to his second publication contains 
a most interesting collection of native tales, picked up here, 
there, and everywhere. 

Campbell arrived at Bethelsdorp on the 19th March, and 
found it to be a mere straggling concourse of miserable 
huts, interesting, however, in spite of its dismal appear- 
ance, on account of the noble work going on amongst 
the Hottentots, numbering some 1050, there protected 
and educated by emissaries of the London Missionary 
Society. 

Having, as usual, inspected the schools, and cheered 
teachers and pupils by his eager interest in and approval 
of their work, our hero left Bethelsdorp, accompanied by 
Messrs Eead and Albricht, also missionaries, to traverse 
Albany, formerly the home of the since extinct Gonaqua 
race, but now colonised by Scotch settlers ; and wending 
his way over its vast park-like meadows, or through the 
narrow rugged ravines and almost impenetrable bush, he 
came on the 21st April, 1813, to Graham's Town, named 
after Colonel Graham, who commanded the British troops 
when the Kaffirs were driven beyond the Great Fish Eiver, 
dividing Albany from Kaffraria. A short rest at Graham's 
Town, as the honoured guest of the chief English and 
Dutch residents, was succeeded by a march across country 
in a north-westerly direction to Graaf Eeynet, a town con- 



Across the Bushmen s Country. 37 

taining a large free and slave population, the latter already 
converted to Christianity by the London missionaries. 

On the 11th May, Campbell started for the Bushmen's 
country on the north of the Cape Colony, by way of the 
Sneuwberg or Snow Mountain, arriving on the borders of 
the native district on the 20th of the same month. Here 
Albricht and one or two missionaries from Albany returned 
to the south, and Campbell and Eead, accompanied by some 
young Bushmen as guides, several armed Hottentots as an 
escort, and the usual complement of waggon and oxen 
drivers, began that part of their journey most interesting to 
us as students of geographical exploration. The country 
traversed was wild, desolate, and but thinly inhabited. Again 
and again want of water reduced the party to the last stage 
of exhaustion, and but for their native guides, they would 
probably never have reached their journey's end. Now 
following a mere elephant or zebra track, now resting for a 
night with huge fires burning around their camp, as a pro- 
tection from lions and other wild beasts, they came on the 
25th May to a lake, a rare phenomenon in this part of 
Africa, which they named Burder, after the then secretary 
of the London Missionary Society, and on the shores of 
which they shot nine bucks, one quagga or zebra, and one 
ostrich. 

Another five days' journey, rendered exciting by several 
narrow escapes from falling into pits dug by the natives as 
traps for wild beasts, brought the exhausted travellers to 
the shores of the Great or Orange Eiver, where a friendly 
Bushman chief, wearing a tall hat, a short blue coat, and 
skin trousers, and escorted by nine of his subjects on oxen, 
took them under his protection, and showed them the way 
to the ford. On the 8th June, the Great Eiver was crossed 



38 Griqua Town and Adam Kok. 

in the following order: — 1st, the extra oxen, driven by 
three Hottentots ; 2nd, Campbell's own waggon with three 
mounted Griquas on each side ; 3rd, more extra oxen driven 
by two mounted Griquas ; 4th, a second waggon, with two 
Griquas on either side; 5th, the baggage waggon, with 
three Griquas on each side ; 6th, a Hottentot on horseback ; 
7th, four dogs, which were driven down by the torrent ; 
8 th, sheep and goats, driven by three Griquas swimming on 
wooden horses ; and 9 th, more oxen driven by Griquas on 
wooden horses. 

This list will serve to give a better idea than pages of 
description of the motley character of a travelling party in 
South Africa, and will enable us to picture to ourselves the 
entry into Griqua Land, on the other side of the Great 
Eiver, where a hearty welcome awaited the dripping heroes 
and their escort from the chief of the border districts. The 
successful crossing was celebrated in the evening by a 
service in the open air, attended by crowds of Griquas, and 
at 10 p.m. arrived Mr. Anderson, a successful missionary 
from Klaar Water or Griqua Town, the next stage in 
Campbell's journey. 

On the 9th, leave was taken of the Griqua chief, and on 
the 10th, after a pleasant ride through a peaceful country 
dotted w 7 ith kraals, Griqua Town was reached, and 
acquaintance made with the celebrated chief, Adam Kok, 
who threw himself heartily into Campbell's designs for 
penetrating into the interior of the country, and volun- 
teered to escort him to Lataku or Lithako, a native town 
on the north-east of Griqua Land, never before visited by 
a European, unless by the unfortunate Dr. Cowan and 
Captain Denovan. 

Eagerly accepting Kok's valuable offer, Campbell stayed 



Entry into Lattaku. 



39 



in Griqua Town only long enough to visit a few native 
families, and be present at a most interesting meeting, at 
which he preached to a motley congregation of Dutch, 
English, Scotch, Griquas, and Corannas. Then, accompanied 
by his old comrade Eead, the native chief, and Anderson, 
he started for the north-east, crossed a valley bounded 
right and left by ranges of hills, halted on the 17th at 
John Bloem's Fountain, now known as Bloem Fontein, 
named after John Bloem, a Dutchman, entered the Mat- 
chappee country, inhabited by a fine race of that name, 
wearing coloured sheepskins, on the 21st, and on the 24th 
arrived at Lattaku (S. lat. 27° 19' E. long. 24° 160, then a 
straggling town with well-built conical-roofed houses, 
divided into several districts, each ruled over by a head- 
man, responsible to the chief or king. 

On the first entry of the three waggons and their escort 
into this city in the wilderness, absolute silence prevailed, 
not a creature, except a few boys, was to be seen in aoy 
direction, but when Campbell's equipage came to the 
principal street, containing the king's residence facing a 
square, a man appeared, who made signs to the visitors to 
follow him. Arrived at the square, the unnatural stillness 
was suddenly changed for a genuine native hubbub. 
Crowds collected round the waggons, which the leaders 
had lost no time in drawing up in the form of a square, 
placing the tent in the middle, and shortly afterwards the 
leading men of the place, in the absence of their king, then 
on a hunting expedition, came to pay their respects, and 
invited our hero and his companions to remain with them 
until his return. This Campbell readily consented to do, 
and the next few days were passed in making friends with 
the natives, in witnessing public shows, such as dancing, 



40 Excursion to Malapeetze. 



accompanied by bawling and yelling, visiting different 
houses, one containing some really good paintings of 
animals by a chieftain's wife, and obtaining information 
respecting the neighbouring races. 

On the 5th July, Mateebe, the king himself, returned 
home, and in an early visit paid to the white men, he 
astonished our hero by his quiet, gentlemanly, almost 
English manners, and by begging him, after some little 
conversation with the aid of an interpreter, to send 
instructors to his people, promising to be a father to them. 
In the next two days, several meetings, to which the 
natives were invited, were held by Campbell and Anderson, 
and the king, who listened with interest to the addresses 
given by the missionaries, declared that he would some day 
go to Griqua Town and learn more of these things. 

On the 7th, Campbell took leave of his royal host, to 
whom he had become positively attached, and still accom- 
panied by Anderson and Kok, started eastward, and cros- 
sing some districts never before visited by Europeans, 
peopled by the Matchappees, he arrived on the 11th at a 
town called Malapeetze, where the appearance of the white 
men excited the greatest astonishment, nearly indeed caus- 
ing the death from fright of the wives of one of the chiefs. 
From Malapeetze excursions were made amongst various 
wandering tribes, who offered no opposition to the travellers 1 
examination of their country, and early in August the 
party, their numbers, strange to say, undiminished, returned 
to Griqua Land, whence Campbell and Eead started again 
for Namaqua Land on the 9 th. 

On this new excursion the Orange Eiver was again 
crossed, and turning due west, the indefatigable missionaries 



Through Namaqua Land. 41 



followed its course through the Coranna country and across 
the sandy desert dividing it from Namaqua Land, arriving 
at the missionary station of Pella on the 12th Septem- 
ber, 1813. Here, as elsewhere, noble teachers of the 
Gospel had already won the affections of natives and 
settlers, and having cheered the European exiles with 
greetings from home, preached to the usual mixed con- 
gregations, and met the great chiefs of Namaqua Land both 
privately and publicly, our hero, feeling that his work was 
done for the present, set out on his return to the Cape 
Colony by way of the desert to the south of Little Namaqua 
Land. The 30th October found him again at Cape Town, 
and in the ensuing month he returned to England, to meet, 
as may be imagined, with an enthusiastic welcome from his 
employers, and, five years later, to be sent with the Eev. 
Dr. John Philip on a yet more important mission to 
South Africa. 

The missionaries arrived at Cape Town on this new 
expedition on the 26 th February, 1819, and, for reasons 
connected with the interests of the parent society into 
which we need not enter here, it was arranged that Philip 
should remain on the coast whilst Campbell proceeded to 
the interior. Accompanied by the now famous Moffat and 
his wife, with the necessary Hottentot attendants, our hero 
started from Cape Town on the 8th January, 1820, and, 
travelling by way of the Dutch towns of Stellenbosh, Paarl, 
and Tulbach, arrived at the mouth of the Hex Eiver Kloof 
on the 28th, where a district not yet traversed was entered, 
bringing the party first into one of the romantic serpen- 
tine defiles such as are numerous in the Nieuwveld and 
Drachenberg chains, and then to the great Karroo. The 
last day of February found the missionaries on the extreme 



42 



Arrival at Grtqua Town. 



limits of the Cape Colony, and on the 1st March they 
entered the then wild Bushman's territory, and travelling 
leisurely on account of the parching heat, Campbell made 
personal acquaintance with many of its simple untutored 
inhabitants, finding amongst, them some slight knowledge 
of God and a touching readiness to learn more, though they 




PORTRAITS OF TYPICAL BUSHMEN AND CHILDREN. 



feared the Good Lord was for the white men, not for them. 
The springboks, the quaggas, the ostriches of these now 
colonised districts were also duly noticed and admired, but 
the main object of this, as of the previous journey, was the 
paving the way for the establishment of new missionary 
stations. Griqua Town was reached on the 11th March, 
and on the 21st the journey to Lataku began. On the 
22nd, the* source of the Kroonian or Kuruman, bursting 



yourney' to Mas how. 



43 



from a curious arched subterranean passage, was visited, 
and on the 26th, King Mateebe's capital was entered for 
the second time. 

On this occasion the white visitors were welcomed with 
eager hospitality by the Matchappees ; every facility was 
afforded for missionary effort amongst high, and low, rich 
and poor, and, most important of all, a friendship was 
struck up with Kossie, King of Mashow, on the north of 
Lattaku, who happened to be on a visit to Mateebe. This 
fortunate acquaintance with a potentate of the unexplored 
interior led to Campbell's accepting an invitation to visit 
him in his own home, and he left Lattaku for that purpose 
on the 12th April, accompanied by his old friend and 
comrade Eead, and escorted by Munameets, a Matchappee 
chief. A short halt at a town called Old Lattaku, to dis- 
tinguish it from the more modern Matchappee capital, was 
succeeded by a most interesting trip in a north-easterly 
direction across a park-like country, as yet untracked by 
anything but footpaths some eighteen inches wide, made 
by the natives in bringing milk to Lattaku from theii 
cattle posts. Here and there on the right, amongst the 
tall grass and thick clumps of trees, rose Coranna kraals, 
whilst on the left stretched the country of the wild 
Bechuanas, with an occasional village of the so-called 
Bechuana Bushmen, a mongrel race descended from the 
few Bushmen who had penetrated so far north and the true 
Bechuanas. Lions, gnus, springboks, hartebeest antelopes, 
and countless ostriches were seen as the little caravan 
advanced further and further into the wilderness, and the 
lakes here and there breaking the monotony of the scenery 
were rich in flamingoes and water-fowl. 

On the 21st April, Meribohwey, the capital of the 



44 Across the Morolong Country. 



Tamnialia country, was entered, and the waggons were 
quickly surrounded by a motley crowd of some five hundred 
natives, who, though reputed of a murderous and blood- 
thirsty disposition, offered our heroes no molestation, but 
listened patiently to a sermon from Campbell on the text, 
" Let us do good unto all men." This impromptu service 
was succeeded by breakfast, and that by an interview with 
the principal kings or chiefs, Munameets acting as mediator, 
the result of which was that their sable highnesses con- 
sented to receive and protect instructors. They also re- 
quested Campbell to bewitch the rain and make it cease, 
but expressed no indignation when he pleaded his power- 
lessness. 

On the 24th April our heroes left Meribohwhey for 
Mashow, two hours' distance, and arriving there on the 
same day, were courteously received by their host, 
Kossie, who introduced them to his chief men, and agreed, 
as his brother of Meribohwhey had done, to receive 
missionaries. 

From Mashow, a town scarcely differing in appearance 
from those already visited, except for the addition of a kind 
of terrace in front of the low mud houses, Campbell and 
Read proceeded almost due north through the so-called 
Morolong country, arriving, after crossing some well- 
watered districts rich in large game, at a beautiful spring, 
to which they gave the name of Philip Fountain, beyond 
which they entered a lovely mountain pass leading down 
into the Marootzee country, peopled by a sturdy, hardy, 
and warlike race, trading with their southern neighbours in 
assagais or spears, knives, and beads of their own manu- 
facture. The first week of May witnessed the entry of 
Europeans into the important town of Kurreechana, the 



Back again to Lattaku. 



45 



central city of the Marootzee nation, and the furthest point 
reached on this memorable journey, and as the natives 
poured yelling and shouting out of their semi-circular rows 
of conical huts, their excitement and horror at the appear- 
ance of the white men was at first extreme. Gradually, 
however, as the fact that their visitors were harmless, in 
spite of their weird appearance and their extraordinary 
clothing, was borne in upon their minds, the king, a young 
man of only sixteen, was brought forward and introduced 
to the new-comers. They were allowed to retire to rest in 
their waggons for the night, only to be beset by eager 
crowds the next morning, who brought them presents of 
sugar-cane, &c, and seemed vastly diverted at their cooking 
operations, holding up their children to watch, and expres- 
sing their surprise by the wildest gestures. 

The usual meetings for prayer and praise were held on 
the ensuing days, in the presence of a vast multitude of 
natives, including many kings and chiefs, who, though not 
asked to kneel, did so, in imitation of Campbell and Eead. 
Promises of protection to future missionaries were obtained 
from the principal men, together with some important 
information respecting the inhabitants of the Wanketzen 
country on the north-west and of the native routes to 
Delagoa Bay, &c. Then, feeling that the path was paved 
for his successors, Campbell made ready to return to the 
coast. Taking a somewhat more easterly route than he 
had done in his journey up, he arrived at Lattaku on the 
8th June, and after a short visit w 7 ith Moffat to the scene 
of that hero's future labours on the Kuruman Eiver, he 
returned to Cape Town by the ordinary route, arriving 
there in good health on the 10th November, 1820, after an 
absence of ten months, during which he had not met with 



46 Hamilton on the Kuruman River. 



a single accident of importance, and had everywhere been 
well received by the natives. 

About the same time as Campbell made his first visit to 
Lattaku, an Englishman named Burchell penetrated to the 
town of Chuai, on the Molopo River, some little distance 
to the north-west of the Matchappee capital, with a view 
to reaching the Portuguese settlements on the western 
coast by way of the Kalihari Desert, but he was deserted 
by his servants and compelled to return to the Cape, 
not having added more than a small tract of country to 
that already explored. 

The hearty reception accorded to Campbell by King 
Mateebe encouraged other missionaries to visit his capital, 
and in 1816, between their predecessor's two journeys, 
Messrs Evans, Williams, Hamilton, and Baker attempted 
to settle in Lattaku, but they were peremptorily ordered 
to leave the town, and though after a long and weari- 
some delay at Griqua Town a reprieve was granted, 
they had scarcely begun their work when war broke out 
between the Matchappees and Bechuanas, compelling the 
white men to retire to the Kuruman Eiver. Here King 
Mateebe and the remnant of his tribe also took refuge after 
their defeat, to find but one missionary, Hamilton, still true 
to his post, where he remained, labouring on against gigantic 
difficulties, until he was joined by Moffat, to whom a sepa- 
rate chapter must be devoted. 



C II A P T E E III. 



moffat's work in namaqua land and among the 
bechuanas. 

Journey from Cape Town to Pella, and Sufferings by the Way — Arrival at 
Africaner's Kraal — Previous Life and Conversion of Africaner — House- 
building in Namaqua Land — Tri]« to the North — Alarm of Lions — 
Old Woman left to die — Return to Africaner's Kraal — Trip to Griqua 
Land — Africaner's Journey to Cap?? Town — Moffat on the Kuruman — 
Early Troubles — War Scenes — Trip to the Unknown North — Mosili- 
kats3*s Ambassadors — Journey to M atabele Land — Retirement. 

ROBEET MOFFAT arrived at Cape Town in 1817, and, 
after a delay of eight months, started on his first 
journey into the interior, making Namaqua Land, recently 
the scene of troubles amongst the missionaries, his goal. 
Accompanied by a Mr. Kitchingham and his wife, he set 
out with the usual waggons and. teams of oxen, but, labour 
being scarce, he and his comrade were compelled themselves 
to take charge of the loose oxen, sheep, and horses, which 
are the inevitable accompaniment of every travelling 
caravan in South Africa. This, of course, added very 
much to the fatigue of the trip, great courage and per- 
petual watchfulness being necessary to save the animals 
from the attacks of wild boars, hyenas, &c, or from tumbling 
over, sometimes even disappearing, in the ant-hills dotting 
the country. On one occasiou a pet lamb which had been 



48 



The Ka)fiies Berg. 



doomed to die the next morning was missed, and, following 
its track, Moffat and Kitchincham traced it to the top of a 
Tugged mountain only to be finally beaten in the chase, 
the animal darting away to cliffs inaccessible to its pursuers, 
when they were within a step of its thong. 

Another trouble, rare in the districts north of Cape 
Town, which are generally dry and parched, was the 




ANT-HILL IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



swelling of the rivers from rain, and the almost complete 
obliteration of roads from the same cause. The loose limy 
soil of the Kaniies Berg was so completely saturated that 
the oxen and waggons often suddenly sunk in the mire, not 
to be extricated until the latter had been unloaded. All 
these troubles, however, met with energy and courage, were 
triumphantly conquered, and the party arrived safely at 



Alone in the Wilderness, 



49 



the missionary station of Bysondermeid without any serious 
casualty. 

Here Mr. and Mrs. Kitchinghani remained permanently, 
and Moffat for a month, as the guest of Mr. Schmelen, the 
resident missionary. Then reluctantly bidding farewell 
to his fellow-countryman, our hero started with a guide 
across the comparatively trackless desert between Byson- 
dermeid and Namaqua Land. On this stage of his journey 
want of water was the chief difficulty to be contended 
with, and as early as the second day the oxen fell down 
exhausted from thirst. Before daybreak the next morning 
Moffat and his guide started with spades and followed by 
the oxen to seek for water, of which they succeeded in 
finding a small quantity, after digging a huge hole in the 
sand. The scene which followed baffles description. The 
oxen, wild with excitement, gathered round, jostling each 
other in their eagerness, the stronger getting the lion's 
share, whilst the weaker obtained hardly any. The return 
to the waggon over a burning plain beneath the meridian 
sun moreover undid what little good the scanty draught had 
done, and many of the oxen made off in the direction of 
Bysondermeid, their instinct telling them that things 
were likely to be worse rather than better with their 
masters. An attendant sent in pursuit returned unsuccess- 
ful, pleading that he dared not go further alone — he should 
die of thirst, or he should be killed by lions. 

Moffat, who in all his dealings with the natives made 
gentleness and humanity his rule, yielded to the poor 
fellow's plea, and sent two men with the remaining oxen 
on to Pella to obtain, assistance, remaining himself with one 
man by the waggon. Very great were the sufferings in the 
few days which followed, on a burning plain, with scarcely 
e — (s.a.) 



50 



Africaner *$ Parentage. 



anything to eat or drink, and with no sound to break the 
silence but the occasional roar of a lion ; but just as he was 
beginning to despair of rescue, Mr. Bartlett, a missionary' 
from Pella, arrived on horseback, followed by two men, 
with quantities of mutton dangling from their saddles. 

The meeting between the two missionaries may be 
imagined. Bartlett, accustomed as he was by long resi- 
dence to the burning climate of Namaqua Land, declared 
that what Moffat had endured was exceptional, even for 
that district, and, after much refreshing intercourse, the two, 
already capital friends, rode together to Pella, where Moffat 
was most hospitably entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett, 
A short rest quickly restored him to his usual vigorous 
health, and a few days later he started for the kraal of the 
celebrated Christian chief, Africaner, arriving there on the 
26th January, 1818. 

Before relating our hero's experiences in this the first 
scene of his missionary labours, we must pause to give the 
previous history of Africaner, acquaintance with which is 
necessary to the proper comprehension of our further 
narrative, and will do more than pages of description to 
illustrate the unhappy relations between the Dutch settlers 
and the natives of South Africa, referred to in our opening 
chapter. 

The eldest son of the chief of a numerous Hottentot 
tribe which once had its strongholds in the Witsensberg 
and Whiterhoek Mountains, and owned hundreds of miles 
of pasture-land north of the Cape, Jager, afterwards 
Christian Africaner, found himself in early manhood, by 
the resignation of his father of the chieftainship, the 
champion against overwhelming numbers of the oppressed 
and despairing Hottentots. Driven further and further 



Africaner's Rebellion. 



51 



north, and dwindling gradually to half their former numbers, 
his clan finally yielded to the force of circumstances, and 
Africaner with many of his people became the servants of 
a Dutch farmer, whose name we have been unable to 
ascertain. 

A faithful ruler, so long as he had anything to rule, 
Jager proved also a faithful servant, and for years he lived 
on good terms with his employer, bravely defending the 
flocks committed to his charge from the raids of Bushmen, 
&c, and checking every incipient revolt amongst his own 
people with a firm though gentle hand. Had the Dutch 
master shown common humanity in his dealings with his 
native subjects all might have been well, but the exiled 
chieftain had to witness the wholesale murder of the males 
of his tribe, and the carrying into slavery of their wives 
and children. True, the murders were said to be in self- 
defence, the slavery was called apprenticeship, but to the 
minds of the untutored natives the last-named distinction 
did not exist, and when rumours reached Africaner's ears 
of a plot against the natives generally, he could bear no 
more. He refused to execute an order of his master. His 
people seconded him, and when the farmer reiterated his 
commands, he was answered by a petition from the whole 
body of his servants for permission to retire to some 
secluded district and there end their days in peace. 

As a matter of course this request was peremptorily 
denied, and the Dutchman coupled with his refusal an 
order to all his native servants to appear that evening at 
the door of his house. The crisis had come. In sullen 
silence Jager and his next brother, Titus, led their men up 
to the door, the latter taking his gun with him in case of 
the worst, and concealing it behind him. Jager, ascending 



52 Murder of a Dutch Farmer. 



the few steps at the front of the house, intended peaceably 
to state his grievances, hoping even yet to avoid coming to 
extremities, but, before he could utter a word, his master 
rushed out and with one blow felled him to the ground. 
The next moment there was the report of a gun, and the 
farmer fell dead, shot to the heart by Titus Africaner, who 
then, followed by his people, entered the house, and telling 
the terrified mistress that though her husband was dead, she 
was safe, they had nothing against her, demanded what 
ammunition and guns she had. The widow brought them 
in fear and trembling, and was told to remain quietly at 
home and no injury would be done her, but if she left the 
house to expect no further protection, as the Africaners 
could not answer for the forbearance of the natives not in 
their own party. Two children who ran out at the back 
door in their fright were killed by Bushmen, but the rest 
of the family escaped. 

Africaner, though his vengeance was accomplished almost 
against his own will, lost no time in accepting the situation 
forced upon him by his brother's action, and, rallying the 
remnant of his tribe, retired beyond the Orange Kiver, and 
later to Namaqua Land, where a chief ceded him a consider- 
able tract of country, over which he ruled peaceably for 
some little time. 

The news of the outrage on the farmer's family, however, 
excited the greatest alarm and indignation in the Cape 
Colony. Eewards were offered for the capture of Africaner 
dead or alive, commandoes or military expeditions were 
sent out against him, and finally, the Dutch settlers bribed 
Berend, a chief of the Griquas, to attack Namaqua Land. 
Unmoved by all the declarations against him, and setting 
the commandoes at defiance, Africaner was roused to 



Struggle between Africaner and Berend. 53 

action by this last manoeuvre, and rushing down upon the 
borders of the colony, he murdered a farmer named Engel- 
brecht and a Griqua, carrying their cattle and other property 
back with him to his own country. 

This was the beginning of war to the death between 
Africaner and all his neighbours. Almost worshipped by 
his followers, who were ready to slay and pillage on the 
slightest provocation, his name became the terror of South 
Africa, and the only man able at all to cope with him was 
the chief Berend mentioned above. Again and again the 
two met in battle, mutually weakening, but never crushing 
each other. On one occasion Titus Africaner and Berend 
were engaged in single combat in the presence of their 
troops, and were levelling their guns at each other when a 
cow suddenly rushed between them, received both charges 
in her body, and fell down dead. But one out of many 
hairbreadth escapes, this singular incident scarcely affected 
either of the combatants, and it appeared likely that the 
plot of the Dutch settlers would succeed, and the native 
tribes would exterminate each other, when a strange change 
fell upon the leaders of both parties, and one unprecedented 
even in missionary annals, rich as they are in remarkable 
conversions. 

The missionaries to Namaqua Land, of w T hom Dr. Van- 
derkemp and the brothers Albrecht were amongst the most 
successful and devoted, had long lived in terror of their 
lives, and for some little time were compelled to take refuge 
in holes dug in the earth, lest they should be massacred by 
Africaner and his reckless followers, but unwilling to 
desert their posts entirely, one little band, under the 
Albrechts, pitched their tents, or we should rather say 
waggons, almost a hundred miles from Africaner's head- 



54 



Conversion of Africaner. 



quarters. To their surprise they were not only unmolested, 
but, before very long, the great freebooter himself became a 
member of their congregation, and in course of time a 
believer in Christianity. This unexpected success was 
followed in another part of the country somewhat later by 
the conversion of the G-riqua chief Berend ; peace, never 
before even wished for, was agreed upon, and when Moffat 
arrived in the country it was to find the worst troubles of 
the missionaries over, and native congregations scattered 
over the length and breadth of Namaqua Land. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Ebner, Moffat's predecessor at 
Africaner's kraal, had shown so little tact in his dealing 
with the natives, that our hero's first welcome was of 
the coldest; but, disguising this disappointment, he 
waited patiently for the tide to turn, and, in two hours 
after his arrival, Jager, now Christian Africaner, arrived, 
and enquired if he were the missionary appointed by the 
directors in London. On Moffat's replying in the affirma- 
tive, his host seemed pleased, and said, " You are young, 
and I hope you will live long with me and my people." 
He then sent for a number of women, such as those whose 
portraits we give, but for what reason Moffat was at first 
at a loss to understand. The mystery was soon solved, 
however, by their collecting bundles of mats and long 
sticks, whilst Africaner pointing to a piece of ground said — 

" There you must build a house for the missionary." 

The women at once set to work with a will, fixed the 
poles in the shape of a hemisphere, and covered them over 
with mats. In half-an-hour the work was done. For six 
months Moffat lived in this primitive dwelling, and tells 
us that its discomfort could scarcely be surpassed, for 
when the sun shone it was unbearably hot; when the 



Moffat's Early Difficulties. 



55 



rain fell he came in for a share of it ; when the wind blew 
he had frequently to decamp to escape the dust, and, in 
addition to these little inconveniences, any hungry cur of a 
dog that wanted a night's lodging would force itself through 
the frail wall, and more than once he found a serpent coiled 
up in a corner. 

All this, however, failed to discourage our hero, who was 
far more concerned at the ill-will between Mr. Ebner and 
the natives, which shortly after his arrival became so 
bitter that the former left the country in disgust. But 
for Moffat's presence and remonstrances, his predecessor 




namaq.ua womes. 



would probably have been murdered, and it was, therefore, 
a relief when he was safely back at the Cape, though his 
intemperate zeal rendered his successor's position quite 
alone amongst the angry natives anything but pleasant. 
Fortunately Moffat soon proved himself to be a man of a 
very different stamp. Africaner himself and his brothers 
Titus, Jakobus, and David, became devotedly attached to 
him, and in a severe illness, brought on by living in the 
house above described, the great chief nursed his guest as 
tenderly as any woman. 



56 Among the Wild Namaquas. 



Finding Africaner's kraal really too unhealthy for a 
European to live in, and dreading a premature shortening 
of his labours amongst the natives, Moffat was obliged at 
the end of six months to look out for another field. On 
his mentioning his wishes to Africaner he was relieved at 
meeting with no opposition, and when his preparations for 
a journey of discovery were completed, his host declared his 
intention of accompanying him himself with a strong escort. 
It was decided to make first for the borders of Damara 
Land on the north of Namaqua, then quite unknown to 
Europeans, though subsequently explored by Galton. 

Having himself repaired his waggon, which had suffered 
much in the journey from Cape Town, with the aid of a 
pair of bellows of his own manufacture, Moffat and his 
protectors started due north, over a sterile country abound- 
ing in mineral treasures, such as iron-stone and copper, 
with here and there fine specimens of fossil trees, meeting 
at first no living creatures but zebras, wild asses, elks, 
koodoos, and an occasional troop of some thirty or forty 
giraffes. Further on, however, the country was studded 
with villages, and making a point of remaining a day or 
two in each to preach the Gospel, Moffat began to hope to 
find a permanent home amongst the Namaquas, but, as he 
approached the Fish Eiver, the natives showed considerable 
jealousy of the further advance of the party. They had 
had enough of " hat-wearers," they said ; their sorcerer had 
warned them that the coming of the white man would 
bring evil upon their land ; if he remained they would 
flee. 

As no arguments could induce these wild Namaquas to 
believe in Moffat's harmlessness, there was nothing to be 
done but return to Africaner's kraal, and, wending their 



A Stidden Alarm. 



57 



way amongst the poisonous euphorbia and prickly acacia, 
the little band tried to reach home by a slower and less 
well known route. As a result, they became involved in 
serious difficulties from want of water, and were often in 
danger from the lions haunting the unfrequented district 
through which they passed. One night, after evening 
service, the leaders were smoking over their fire of sticks,- 




EUPHORBIA TREES. 



and the men were lying about in all manner of care- 
less attitudes, when the roar of a lion was heard, the oxen 
rushed suddenly into the camp, trampling down everything 
in their way, and then dashed off for the mountains. 

Fortunately no serious injury was inflicted, though 
Bibles, hats, guns, and hymn-books were flung in every 
direction. Africaner, who with Moffat had been rolled over 
in the sand, soon started up, and shouting, "Follow me !" 
led his men to the pursuit. The frightened animals were 



58 



Old Woman left to Die. 



brought back safely, but the lion which had caused all the 
tumult escaped. 

The morning after this alarm, a sad instance of native 
cruelty was met with, the travellers finding an old woman 
reduced to mere skin and bone, left alone to die in the 
desert. Moffat, though himself exhausted from want of 
water, went up to her and enquired what was the matter. 
Terrified at the sudden appearance of the white man, the 
unhappy woman tried to rise but sank down again from 
weakness. Eeassured by degrees, she at last managed to 
explain that she had been left to die four days ago. " My 
children are gone," she said, " to yonder blue mountains, 
and have left me to die. [ am old, you see, and I am no 
longer able to serve them. When they kill game, I am too 
feeble to help in carrying home the flesh ; I am not able to 
gather wood to make fire, and I cannot carry their children 
on my back as I used to do." Then, when Moffat asked 
how she had managed to escape the lions, she answered, 
taking up the skin of her left arm with her fingers, and 
raising it as one would do a loose linen: "I hear the 
lions ; but there is nothing on me that they would eat. I 
have no flesh for them to scent." 

Touched to the heart by this piteous recital, Moffat tried 
to persuade her to let him lift her into the waggon and 
take her to the next village, but the mere idea seemed to 
convulse her with terror. " It is our custom/' she said ; " if 
you left me at another village they would do the same. I 
am nearly dead now ; I do not want to die again." 

Our hero was, therefore, compelled to content himself 
with leaving her some fuel, dry meat, tobacco, and a knife, 
and, promising to return in two days, he joined his own 
party in a further search for water, which was found in 



Moffat drinks Poisoned Water. 



59 



small quantities somewhat later in the day. At the 
appointed time he went back to the spot where he had left 
his old protege to find her gone, the footmarks of two men 
leading him to suppose that she had been carried off to the 
hills to which she had pointed. Long afterwards he learned 
from a native that her sons, who had, unseen, witnessed the 
interview with Moffat from a distance, had come down and 
taken her home with them, dreading the vengeance of 
Africaner. 

All perils escaped, the caravan got back to Africaner's 
kraal towards the close of the year, and a little later, 
Moffat, at the request of his host, made a trip to Griqua 
Land, to inspect a situation offered to Africaner and his 
people by the chief of that country. Accompanied by two 
of the chiefs younger brothers, and taking nothing with 
him but his gun and a few necessary articles of clothing, 
he bent his steps to the Orange Eiver, and keeping along 
the northern bank, arrived safely at the well-known Falls 
in the course of one day. 

Here a Coranna chief named Paul received them hospit- 
ably enough, and on the following evening they started 
again, entering the, to them unknown, Bushman's country, 
where they were sometimes well and sometimes badly 
received. At one village Moffat nearly lost his life by 
drinking from water poisoned with a view to destroying the 
wild animals with which the jungle near abounded, but 
though he suffered great agony for a time, he recovered. 
The people of the village showed him the greatest sympathy 
in his distress, and some of them scoured the country to find 
him the fruit of the solanum, which here grows to the size 
of an egg, and acts as an emetic. 

Our tw r o illustrations, one of half-naked Bushrnen making 



60 



Habits of Bushmen. 



a fire, the other of a Bush woman in holiday attire, may 
serve to give some idea of the people amongst whom 
Moffat was now travelling. Further on will be found a 
group of the weapons still in use amongst this primitive 
people, and one of the articles which make up a Bushman's 
travelling equipment, including his water-skin drinking 
vessel and club. Moffat speaks in terms of pitying affection 
of the wretched condition of these persecuted natives, 




BUSHMEN MAKING A FIRE. 



living in dread alike of the Dutch settlers and of the 
Corannas on the other side of the river, but when left 
unmolested, showing themselves to be of peaceable and 
friendly dispositions. The recent discoveries by G. W. 
Stow of cave paintings and rock sculptures, executed by 
Bushmen before their complete subjugation by the Dutch, 
point to the conclusion that these unfortunate sons of the 
soil had attained to considerable excellence in the pictorial 
arts. One of the more modern of these works is a painting 



Exhaustion of Moffat. 



61 



representing the first Boer commando sent out against the 
Bushmen; whilst others, probably of earlier date, give 
hunting scenes, struggles between the Boers and Kaffirs, 
all alike remarkable for spirited execution. 

Before reaching Griqua Land the whole party suffered 




fearfully both from fatigue and want of food and water, 
having somewhat injudiciously trusted for supplies to their 
guns and native hospitality. Moffat indeed was so com- 
pletely worn out, that when he at last entered Griqua 
Town, and drew rein at the house of Mr. Anderson, the 
missionary there established, he was absolutely speechless. 



62 



Narrow Escapes. 



Making signs that he wanted water, he was quickly supplied 
by Mrs. Anderson with a cup of coffee, and whilst it was 
being prepared he managed to explain who he was, but not 
until the next day was he able to enter into any details. 
His sufferings, however, seem not in the least to have 
quelled his ardour, and after a very short rest we find him 
starting on a journey to the residence of Berend, the chief 
already alluded to, and to Lattaku, this time accompanied 
by Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. 

At both places Moffat and the Andersons received a 




L. bushma.k's equipment. 



hearty welcome, and at Lattaku they remained some days, 
and Moffat made his first acquaintance with the Bechuanas, 
amongst whom his lot was subsequently cast. On the 
return journey to Africaner's kraal he had two narrow 
escapes; one from hyenas, w T ho, emboldened by hunger, 
attacked his camp, and one from a hippopotamus, which 
dashed furiously up stream as he and Younker Africaner 
were about to cross the Orange Biver. As Paterson had 
done before him, Moffat escaped to an island in the river, 




HOTTENTOT WEAPONS AND DOMESTIC UTENSILS. 



At Home again. 



63 



and the monster was driven off with stones by his 
men. 

Once more " at home," as he expresses it, Moffat made 
the somewhat startling resolution of paying a visit to the 
Cape, and taking Africaner with him. " Do you not know," 
said his host when the proposal was first made to him, 




bushmen's weapons. 



" that I am an outlaw, and that one thousand rix dollars 
have been offered for this poor head? But," he added, "I 
shall deliberate, and roll my way upon the Lord. I know 
He will not leave me." 

The result of the deliberation was in Moffat's favour, and 
a little later, escorted by half the population of Namaqua 

F — (S.A.. ) 



64 



Moffat introduces Africaner. 



Land, he and the royal convert started for Pella, where, 
acting on Mr. Bartlett's advice, Africaner assumed an old 
suit of Moffat's as a disguise, and decided to act as the 
Englishman's servant in the coming journey, with a view 
to eluding the vengeance of the Dutch farmers, many of 
whom had heavy scores against him, and were not unnatu- 
rally sceptical about his conversion. 

One farmer, on seeing Moffat and his " servant" approach 
his homestead, showed the wildest excitement, taking the 
former for a ghost, and surprising him with the question, 
"When did you rise from the dead ?" It was some time 
before the poor fellow was reassured; he had heard that 
Moffat had been murdered by Africaner, and when the 
story of his conversion had been related to him, with his 
subsequent hospitality to missionaries, the worthy Dutch- 
man cried — ■ 

" Well, if what you assert be true respecting that man, 
I have only one wish, and that is to see him before I die ; 
and when you return, as sure as the sun is over our heads, 
I will go with you and see him, though he killed my own 
uncle." 

A moment's hesitation, and then turning to Africaner, 
who had listened to this conversation with a quiet smile, 
Moffat said, " This, then, is Africaner !" 

The farmer started back, stared at the "servant," and 
exclaimed, "Are you Africaner?" "I am," * replied the 
person addressed, raising his hat and bowing. " Oh God!" 
cried the farmer, "what a miracle of Thy power; what 
cannot Thy grace accomplish ! " and forgetting all his 
wrongs, he invited Moffat and the chief to remain with 
him, and spread his best before them. 

Arrived at Cape Town, MoffUt lost no time in waiting 



Moffat's Arrival at the Kuruman. 65 

on the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset, who listened to 
his account of the reform of Africaner with evident 
scepticism, but was completely won over and fascinated 
in an interview the next day with the ex-freebooter him- 
self, so much so that he presented him with a waggon 
worth some eighty pounds, and supplied him with a 
Government passport, which would enable him to travel 
unmolested throughout the English possessions in South 
Africa. 

To Moffat's regret and disappointment, his connection 
with Africaner now ended. He had intended returning to 
Namaqua Land with his host, to whom he had become 
much attached, but he was requested by the Missionary 
Society to which he belonged first to join Mr. Campbell in 
his second journey to Lattaku, of which an account has 
already been given, and then to settle amongst the 
Bechuana tribe. Before starting on the first trip he was 
married to a Miss Smith, to whom he had long been 
engaged, and his future labours were much lightened by 
her earnest help and sympathy. 

Into the details of the travels of the newly-married 
couple with Campbell we need not enter here, but will 
resume our narrative with their arrival in 1821 at the 
Kuruman Eiver, where they had long been anxiously 
expected by Hamilton, worn out by his ceaseless and 
lonely labours amongst the Bechuanas, Hottentots, and 
Bushmen. At this early stage of missionary work the 
people seemed callous to all instruction, though many 
pretended conversion for the sake of obtaining help from 
Hamilton. Munameets, the uncle of Chief Mateebe, who, * 
it will be remembered, accompanied Campbell on his visit 
to Mashow, summed up the views of his tribe with regard 



66 Agricultural Operations. 



to the Christian religion in the following characteristic 

sentence — 

"Your customs may be good enough for you, but I 
never see that they fill the stomach. I would like to live 
with you because you are kind and could give me medicine 
when sick." 

A certain rain-maker, who did all he could secretly to 
undermine the influence of the missionaries, and constantly 
plotted against their lives, long rendered vain all their 
efforts to gain a hold upon the affections of the natives, 
but falling himself into disgrace, he was sent into exile by 
Mateebe, and after his departure the prospects of the 
little English colony brightened. At first the time both of 
Hamilton and Moffat was almost constantly occupied in 
building and tilling the ground, in both of which opera- 
tions they were pre-eminently successful, in spite of the 
gigantic difficulties with which they had to contend, work- 
ing often with the thermometer at 120° at noon in the 
shade, or compelled to go three miles' journey for a drop of 
water. 

Their little cottage built at last and their chief enemy 
gone, Mr. and Mrs. Moffat, with their baby boy, settled 
down, as they hoped, to peaceful labours amongst the 
people, Moffat and Hamilton visiting even the wild Bush- 
men from the caves of Griqua Land, and never letting slip 
an opportunity of bettering their condition, or that of the 
Hottentots and Bechuanas. 

The troubles of the mission were, however, not yet over. 
A long-continued drought was presently attributed to the 
sinister influence of the white men, and after many a 
secret meeting to discuss their fate, an armed party of 
natives presented themselves at Moffat's door to inform 



A False Accusation. 



67 



him that it had been decided that he and his people must 
leave the country. Our hero's quiet and dignified reply, in 
which he expressed his pity for the sufferings of the natives 
from the want of rain, and his confidence that his God 
would yet have mercy upon them all, so surprised his 



bushmen's cave in guiqua land. 

enemies, that the headman, looking at his companions, 
said — 

" These men must have ten lives, when they are so fear- 
less of death ; there must be something in immortality." 

At this the warriors lowered their spears, and with many 
a significant shake of the head moved off, leaving the 
white men, as we may imagine, relieved at the unexpected 



68 



Building of a Chapel. 



turn affairs had taken. They had escaped yet once again. 
Surely, they thought, they were reserved for great things ; 
they would not despair, but continue to work quietly on. 

Gradually from this crisis the missionaries seem to 
have gained upon the respect, if not upon the affection of 
the people. A small chapel, built at the cost of incredible 
exertions, was opened for Divine service, and by degrees a 
little native congregation was formed. Mateebe took 
Moffat under his special protection, and when the latter 
received an invitation to visit Makaba, the chief of 
Bauangketsi, a powerful tribe living two hundred miles 
north of Lattaku, the Matchappee ruler did all he could to 
dissuade him from accepting it. There had been terrible 
rumours long afloat of the horrors perpetrated in the north 
by a band of warriors under a woman named Mantatee; 
the white man would fall a victim ; he had better remain 
quietly at home. 

Undeterred by these remonstrances, though pleased at 
this proof of his work not having been entirely in vain, 
Moffat started with a few native servants, and arrived three 
days later at Old Lattaku, where he found the people in 
terror of the approach of the Mantatees. At Nokaneng, 
twenty miles further north, it was reported that the 
Baralongs at Kunuana, about one hundred miles off, had 
been attacked, but still sceptical of the truth of all these 
sinister rumours, he pressed on, only to be obliged to turn 
back and flee for his life when he came within sight of the 
Bauangketsi outposts, convinced at last beyond a doubt 
that the invaders were close upon him. 

Back again at Nokaneng, Moffat warned the inhabitants 
to prepare for the worst, and then, hurrying on to the 
station on the Kuruman, communicated his views to 



A Council of War. 



69 



Mateebe, who blessed him for returning in time. A council 
of war was at once called, at which Mateebe, after cutting 
a number of symbolic capers which greatly amused the 
white spectators, made a long harangue, the upshot being 
that help must be obtained, and that soon. "We cannot 
stand against the Mantatees," he said; "we must now 
concert, conclude, and be determined to stand : the case is 
a great one. You have seen the interest the missionary 
has taken in your safety ; if we exert ourselves as he has 
done, the Mantatees can come no further. You see the 
white people are our friends. You see Mr. Thompson (an 
Englishman who had arrived during Moffat's absence) has 
come to see us on horseback; he has not come to lurk 
behind our houses as a spy, but in confidence." 

Finally, it was agreed to send to Griqua Town for assist- 
ance, and during the eleven days which ensued before an 
answer could be received, Moffat, a Griqua chief named 
Waterboer, and Mr. Melvill, a Government agent from 
Griqua Town, started on a reconnaissance, coming up with 
the enemy's advanced guard a little to the south of 
Lattaku. A second and more numerous body occupied the 
town itself, and it seemed impossible for the scouts from 
the Kuruman to approach nearer without danger. Moffat 
and Waterboer, however, rode up to a young woman 
gathering the pods of an acacia in one of the ravines, and 
asked her in the Bechuana language a few questions about 
the invaders. She merely replied that they came from a 
great distance, and was evidently too faint for want of food 
to be able to talk much. Moffat therefore gave her some 
provisions, and asked her to go and tell the Mantatees that 
he and his companions were not come to fight, but to speak 
to the leaders of the army. She went off but did not 



70 Battle between Griqtias and Mantatees. 

return, and as the two were waiting for her, and noticing 
with pity and regret the devastation all around them, dead 
bodies lying here, there, and everywhere, they were sud- 
denly discovered by a party of Mantatee spearmen, who 
advanced upon them with threatening gestures. 

Moffat was about to dismount and advance to meet them 
alone, when the savages uttered a hideous yell, and some 
hundred men rushed towards him and Waterboer, throwing 
their weapons with such force and skill that they had 
scarcely time to turn their terrified steeds and gallop off. 
Retreating to a distant height, from which they could 
w r atch the movements of the enemy unmolested, they 
awaited the arrival of the party from Griqua Land with 
the greatest anxiety, and when the evening came and there 
was no sign of succour, Moffat rode back to confer with 
the chiefs, leaving Waterboer and a few native scouts to 
continue the necessary observations. 

On his arrival at the station, our hero found all the 
Griqua chiefs assembled in council, and after he had given 
his report, it was agreed that the Griqua army should 
advance the next day, with Waterboer as its leader, Adam 
and Cornelius Kok and Berend promising faithfully to 
serve under him. The best horse was given to Moffat, 
it being urged that his life was more valuable than 
that of any native ; and touched to the heart by this proof 
of the firm hold he had at last obtained over the affections 
of the people he had so long tried to serve, our hero 
determined to spare no effort to help them in the coming 
struggle. 

Starting before daylight the ensuing day, the Griqua 
warriors, presenting quite an imposing appearance in their 
war-dress, and on their well-appointed steeds, advanced to 



Retreat of the Enemy. 



71 



within a hundred and fifty yards of the enemy, and 
endeavoured by signs to obtain a parley. But their appear- 
ance was greeted by unearthly yells and a discharge of 
clubs and javelins. Jet black and almost naked, the 
Mantatees, sturdy fellows much resembling the Bechuanas 
in face and figure, looked truly formidable antagonists, but 
Waterboer hoped to intimidate them in spite of his inferior 
force by the use of firearms. In vain ! True, they seemed 
at first overwhelmed with astonishment at the fall of 
several of their chiefs by invisible means, but quickly 
recovering, they wrenched the weapons from the hands of 
their dying comrades, and sallied forth with increased rage 
in every gesture. 

The Griquas were beginning to waver, to retreat, when 
the Bechuanas, encouraged by the arrival of succour, 
rallied, and began plying the enemy with poisoned arrows. 
This created, however, but a momentary diversion, as the 
Mantatees soon drove off their new assailants, and the day 
seemed lost, when, to the astonishment alike of Moffat and 
the Griquas, the enemy showed signs of giving way, and 
retiring westwards. To wheel round their horses and cut 
off their retreat was the work of a moment to the warriors 
from the south, and, entangled in a narrow ravine, the 
Mantatees fell an easy prey to the firearms of their 
assailants. An awful scene ensued, for in the meUe and 
confusion friends fell upon friends, Mantatees pursued 
Mantatees, whilst with their war-cries were mingled the 
bellowing of terrified oxen, and the wailing of women and 
children. 

Arrived at Lattaku, still garrisoned by their own forces, 
the Mantatees set fire to the town, and, their numbers now 
amounting to some forty thousand, continued their retreat 



72 Moffat's Visit to the Baralongs. 



to the north. For about eight miles the little band of 
Griquas pursued, and then, riding quietly back to the 
battle-field, they joined the Bechuanas in plundering the 
dying and the dead, respecting neither age nor sex, till 
Moffat, horrified at the ferocity displayed, rode in amongst 
them, and prevailed upon them to spare the women and 
children. 

Having done all he could for the amelioration of the 
sufferings of victors and vanquished alike, Moffat returned 
to the Kuruman river, to retire a little later with his 
family and Hamilton to Griqua Town, where they all 
remained until peace was restored by the final retreat of 
the Mantatees to the Bakone country and Basuto Land on 
the east. A year later, with Mateebe's consent and 
approbation, Mr. and Mrs. Moffat paid a visit to the Cape, 
accompanied by Prince Peclu, heir-apparent of the 
Matchappee kingdom, and Taisho, a chief of high rank. 
The trip was successful in every way ; the Moffats, cheered 
by the sympathy of their fellow-countrymen, returned to 
their post with zeal and energy increased, and the natives, 
impressed with all they had seen, brought home glowing 
reports of the strength and skill of the white men. 

Feeling that he might now safely venture on a long 
absence from his family, Moffat determined to carry out his 
long-deferred scheme of visiting chief Makaba, and on the 
1st July, 1824, he started for the north, accompanied by 
some Griqua elephant hunters, arriving safely after an 
interesting journey of some weeks at Pitsan, the principal 
town of the Baralong country, covering a large extent of 
ground, and inhabited by a numerous division of the 
Bahurutsi and another of the Bauangketsi, who had 
congregated there on the Mantatee invasion. Here he was 



Entry into Makaba's Capital. 73 

very well received alike by chiefs and people, and was 
asked to remain amongst them " to protect them and make 
rain," but, unable to comply with this request, Moffat 
contented himself with promising to try and induce some 
other missionary to settle at Pitsan. 

The favourable impression at first produced by the white 
man was somewhat compromised by his protest against 
their custom of selling their children as slaves. No open 
rupture ensued, however, and after a few days' rest, he 
parted on good terms with the chiefs, to press on for 
Makaba's outposts. Expecting a hearty welcome as an 
invited guest, he was a little disconcerted at the capture 
and slaughter of some of his oxen by subjects of his future 
host before his arrival at the capital; but whilst still 
smarting under the insult, Marocha or Maroga, one of 
Makaba's sons, rode out to meet him at the head of a body 
of men, and, presenting him with an ox, entreated him to 
forgive the injury which had been done him, declaring that 
the guilty men should be torn in pieces before his eyes on 
his entry into his father's capital. We need scarcely add 
that Moffat expressed himself satisfied without any such 
sanguinary vengeance, and late the same day he entered 
Makaba's capital in triumph, there to be welcomed with 
almost extravagant joy. 

The natives of the numerous Bauangketsi villages dotting 
the country all around poured in to see the white man 
who had come from afar. Makaba declared himself ready 
to die of pleasure, and entreated Moffat to let his waggon 
pass right through the town. That the ponderous vehicles 
might knock down some of the frail huts or enclosures of 
the narrow streets did not trouble him, and to humour him 
Moffat gave orders to his men to drive them to the lower 



74 



Fresh Troubles. 



end of the capital, where the oxen were unyoked in the 
presence of admiring crowds. Three chief men were then 
appointed to protect the visitor, Makaba sent his principal 
wife with a present of milk, and Moffat was allowed to 
retire to rest. 

After a short time spent with Makaba, during which 
more than one alarm occurred of the intentions of the 
natives to murder their guests, Moffat returned to the 
station on the Kuruman river, to find the country again 
distracted by civil war, and to learn that his wife and 
little ones had been more than once in serious danger. 
The Batlaros, a Bechuana tribe, had attacked the Griquas ; 
the latter had retaliated. Namaquas, Corannas, Bushmen, 
were all in arms, scouring the country in the hope of 
plunder, and murdering in cold blood all who came in their 
way. 

Compelled to flee to Griqua Town, the Moffats were long 
doubtful whether it would not be well to return to the 
Cape, but things brightening a little later, they joined 
Hamilton at a new station on the Kuruman, where that 
indomitable hero was endeavouring to collect a little con- 




LOCT7ST. 

gregation about him. Then ensued a visitation of locusts, 
destroying everything in their small plantations, but 



Matabele Envoys. 



75 



bringing relief to the starving natives, who consider these 
insects a luxury. The years 1826, 1827, and 1828 were 
one long struggle with difficulties, dangers, and want, but 
1829 opened more brightly, and its close found the Moffats 
and their now numerous children living peaceably in their 
new settlement, with native huts clustering about their 
chapel, and a congregation including Bushmen, Corannas, 
Bechuanas, and even some few once wild warriors from the 
north. 

In October, 1829, a visit was paid to the white men's 
settlement by two ambassadors from the renowned Mosili- 
katse, king of the Abaka or Matabele, a branch of the 
great Zulu family, dwelling on the north-west of the 
Bechuana country. Keports had reached the sable poten- 
tate of the wonders wrought by the missionaries, and of 
the strange objects in use amongst them; he too would 
fain share in the progressive movement set on foot by them ; 
he prayed them to give his envoys full information; if 
possible, even to send back one of their number to his 
court. 

Tall, sturdy, dignified fellows, who had never known the 
restraint of clothing, the two Matabele observed every- 
thing with the greatest astonishment, but preserved a 
quiet decorum rare amongst savages. At Moffat's request 
they adopted mantles of sheepskin during their visit, and 
showed a polite readiness to fall into the customs of their 
entertainers, which proved them to be nature's true noble- 
men. One of them seeing himself for the first time in a 
glass thought some inquisitive native was staring at him, 
and gently motioned him to be gone. Finding no result 
ensue, he turned the glass over, and seeing nothing behind 
it, returned it to Mrs. Moffat, with the remark that it was 



76 



Visit to the Matabele, 



not to be trusted. The houses, the walls of the fields and 
gardens, a water ditch conveying a large stream out of the 
bed of the river, the smith's forge, the chapel with its 
orderly congregation, all excited the most lively admira- 
tion. "Ye are men/' said the visitors at last; "we are 
but children. . . Mosilikatse must be taught all these 
things. ,, 

Here was an opening not to be neglected, and Moffat 
determined to accompany his guests on their return at least 
part of the way, hoping for an invitation from Mosili- 
katse to enter his capital. Starting on the 9th November 
with a small escort of his own people, he arrived shortly 
afterwards with the envoys at Lattaku, where the whole 
party were kindly received. Then rapidly crossing the 
Baralong plains in waggons, and narrowly escaping death 
from two huge lions which surprised and killed one of their 
oxen, but were driven off and compelled to relinquish the 
carcass, the trio reached the Bahurutsi outposts at Mosega, 
where Moffat intended taking leave of the Matabele. To 
this the latter were firmly opposed, and begged him to go 
with them to see their king, that he might return the 
hospitality accorded to his subjects. 

Delighted at this invitation, Moffat consented to go at 
least to the first Matabele settlement, and entering a 
district differing in every respect from any he had yet 
seen in Africa, and reminding him of the hills and dales of 
Scotland, he traversed five hundred miles in five days. The 
evening of the last found him at the first cattle outpost of 
the Matabele, and halting by a fine rivulet near a gigantic 
tree, he was astonished to find the latter inhabited by 
several families of Bakones, the aborigines of the country. 
The conical points of little huts obtruded through the 



Dwellers in Trees. 



77 



dense foliage, and climbing to the topmost one, about 
thirty feet from the ground, our hero entered it to find it 
anything but an uncomfortable abode, though its only 
furniture was a spear, a bowl of locusts, and a spoon. No 
chairs, no tables, no beds, but hay spread upon the ground 
served for all three. The owner of the house gave her 
guest some food, and several other women came from the 
woods near, stepping daintily from branch to branch to 
stare at the white man, who was as great a curiosity to 
them as they were to him. 

On enquiry, Moffat found that this singular style of 
architecture was adopted to avoid the lions abounding in 
the country, and that the families came down in the day 
to dress their food. When the houses seemed too heavy 
for the branches on which they were perched, upright 
sticks were driven into the ground beneath them to aid in 
supporting them. 

Having now arrived at the outskirts of Mosilikatse's 
dominions, Moffat reminded his companions of his inten- 
tion of returning south, but they would not hear of it, and 
some Matabele warriors arriving from the capital added their 
entreaties that he would go on with them. Having with 
some difficulty obtained the consent of his Bechuana com- 
panions to a change of plan, our hero again yielded, and 
about a week's march through a desolate country brought 
him and his escort to Mosilikatse's capital, entering which, 
and riding into the large central fold capable of holding 
ten thousand head of cattle, he suddenly found himself 
surrounded by some eight hundred warriors, who made 
signs to him and his companions to dismount. They did 
so, and the natives at the gate immediately rushed in with 
hideous yells, and, leaping from the earth with a kind of 



78 Strange Reception by Matabele Warriors. 

kilt around their bodies hanging like loose tails, joined the 
circle, falling into rank with as much order as if they 
were accustomed to European tactics. Then from behind 
the lines marched out Mosilikatse himself, the great 
Pezoolu (Heaven), the Elephant, the Lion's Paw, and first 
shaking hands with all his visitors, having previously 
learned the proper mode of doing so for the occasion, he 
linked his arm in Moffat's, and said — 

" The land is before you ; you are come to your son ; 
you must sleep where you please." 

The " moving houses," as he called the waggons, which 
were the first he had seen, made the great warrior, whose 
name had spread terror throughout the length and breadth 
of South Africa, tremble with fear ; he took a firmer grasp 
of Moffat's arm, and was careful not to relinquish his hold 
till reassured by the explanations of one of the envoys who 
had been to the Kuruman river. 

Moffat remained some weeks as the guest of Mosili- 
katse, whom we shall meet again in our further narra- 
tive; and having, as he hoped, paved the way for the 
foundation of a mission amongst the Matabele, he returned 
to the Kuruman settlement, escorted for some little 
distance by his host. Finding the affairs of the mission 
prosperous, he ventured in the ensuing year again to leave 
his station, and pay a round of visits to the missionaries in 
Kaffraria. Of this journey he gives us no details in his 
account of his work, but contents himself with stating that 
his fellow-labourers were making satisfactory progress. 

A journey in 1831 to the Bahurutsi tribe, a second visit 
to Mosilikatse in the same year, and a trip to the towns 
on the Yellow or Ky Gariep and Kolong rivers in 1836, 
were the chief of Moffat's excursions in the latter part of 



Moffat's Later yourneys* 



79 



his career as a missionary. In 1838 a new church was 
opened on the Kuruman, and in the following year our 
hero's persevering efforts were crowned by the conversion 
of Mateebe himself, who professed Christianity just before 
his death. 

After between twenty and thirty years of unremitting 
work amongst the Bechuana and neighbouring tribes, 
Moffat left the Kuruman and returned to the Cape, but he 
long continued to aid other missionaries with his counsel 
and encouragement, sometimes, as in the case of Mackenzie, 
accompanying them to the stations to which they were sent, 
and paving the way for them with the chiefs, with whom 
he was acquainted. The name of Eobert Moffat is still 
loved and honoured by the Namaquas, the Bushmen, the 
Corannas, the Bechuanas, the Baralongs, the Bauangketsi, 
and the Matabeles ; and though he can scarcely be said to 
have contributed as much as many others to geographical 
science, he must ever be honoured as a hero of geographical 
discovery, for, but for his noble efforts amongst the heathen, 
the difficulties in the way of the explorations of his 
successors would have been more than doubled. He made 
the name of the white man synonymous with truth and 
honour, he taught the down-trodden natives to distinguish 
between the Christian creed and its faithless professors, 
and, not contenting himself with preaching the doctrine of 
a future life, he taught his pupils to avail themselves of 
the everyday comforts of civilisation, bringing them home 
to them by every means in his power. To this enlightened 
policy was due the permanent influence of his work, and 
we would recommend those of our readers who are 
discouraged by the difficulties, no matter of what nature, 
which beset their career, to turn for refreshment and 
a — (s.a.) 



80 



Results of Moffat's Work. 



encouragement to the simple unvarnished account given 
by Moffat in his Missionary Labours and Scenes in South 
Africa, of the gradual growth of the Kuruman community 
from the day when he and his wife arrived on the banks of 
the river, houseless and unprotected, to the final leave- 
taking of the schools and comfortable houses dotting the 
once desolate districts. 




DR. LIVINGSTONE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Livingstone's early discoveries. 

Arrival at Cape Town — Preliminary Work in Bechuana Land — Settlement 
at Mabotsa — Troubles with Lions — Marriage and Arrival at Sochuane — 
Chief Sechele— Drought and Removal to Kolobeng — First Trip to the 
Kalihari Desert and Return to Kolobeng — Second Trip, and Discovery 
of Lake N'gami — Yisit to Sebituane and the Death of that Chief — 
Return to England of Mrs. Livingstone and her Children — Journey from 
Cape Town to Linyanti — The Makololo and their chief Sekeletu — 
Journey from Linyanti to St. Paul de Loanda by way of the Barotse 
Valley, Balonda Land, the Leeba, and the Congo Valley — Return to 
Linyanti — Discovery of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi — Journey 
through the Batonga Country — Danger at M'bende's Kraal — Narrow 
Escape — Arrival at Tete — Voyage down the Zambesi — Arrival at 
Quilimane— Voyage to Mauritius and Suicide of Sekwebu— Return to 
England. 

DR. DAVID LIVINGSTONE, charged by the Directors 
of the London Missionary Society to carry on and 
extend the work of Moffat, arrived in Cape Town in 
the summer of 1840, and, after a short rest, started 
for the interior by way of Algoa Bay. A journey 
of seven hundred miles, of which no detailed or 
personal record has been published, brought him to 
Lattaku, then the furthest inland missionary station of 
South Africa. Here he remained only long enough to 



82 Amongst the Bakwains. 



recruit his oxen before he pressed on northwards to that 
part of the country immediately above the 25th parallel of 
south latitude, and inhabited by the section of the 
Bechuana tribe known as the Bakwains. Having satisfied 
himself of the existence of a promising field for missionary 
effort, he returned to the Kuruman station, rested there for 
three months, and then took up his quarters in the Bak- 
wain country itself, at the present Litubaruba, at that 
time known as Lepelole. 

Determined to neglect nothing which could in any way 
promote his success with the natives, Livingstone now cut 
himself off from all intercourse with Europeans for six 
months, devoting himself to acquiring " an insight into the 
habits, ways of thinking, laws, and language of the 
Bechuanas, and in laying the foundations of a settlement 
by making a canal for irrigation purposes from a river 
near by. 

These preliminaries being well advanced, our hero paid 
a visit to the Bakaa, Bamangwato, and the Makalaka, living 
between 22° and 23° south latitude. The greater part of this 
trip was performed on foot, the draught oxen being ill, and 
some of the natives forming the escort observed in Living- 
stone's hearing, not knowing that he understood them — 
* He is not strong ; he is quite slim, and only seems stout 
because he puts himself into those bags [trousers] ; he will 
soon knock up." Stung by these derogatory remarks on 
his appearance, Livingstone revenged himself by keeping 
the whole party at highest speed for several days, and was 
rewarded later by hearing them speak more respectfully of 
his pedestrian powers. 

Having, without knowing it, approached to within ten 
days' journey of Lake N'gami, afterwards discovered by 



An Encounter with Lions. 



83 



him, our hero went back to Kurumau to bring his luggage 
to the site of his proposed settlement, but before he could 
do so, came the disappointing news that the Bakwains, with 
whom he had become friendly, had been driven from 
Lepelole by the Baralongs, rendering it impossible for him 
to carry out his original plan. With the courage and 
energy which distinguished him from the first, Livingstone 
at once set about looking for some other site, and after a 
journey to Bamangwato, to restore to chief Sekomi several 
of his people who had come down with him to the 
Kuruman, and for whose safety he felt responsible, he 
selected the beautiful valley of Mabotsa, the home of the 
Makatla branch of the Bechuana tribe (S. lat. 25° 14', 
E. long. 26° 300, where he removed in 1843. 

Here the chief difficulty to contend with at first was the 
number and ferocity of the lions, which not only leaped 
into the cattle pens of the village of Mabotsa at night, but 
sometimes attacked the herds in broad daylight. Expedi- 
tions sent out against the marauders returned without 
having achieved any success, and knowing that if but one 
of the troop of lions were killed the others would take 
alarm and leave the country, Livingstone determined himself 
to join a sortie against them. 

On this occasion the lions were discovered on a little 
hill overgrown with trees, and a circle of men armed with 
guns was formed round it, who gradually approached each 
other as they ascended, hoping to surprise the enemy with 
a volley fired simultaneously. Livingstone and a native 
schoolmaster named Mebalwe, remained in the plain below, 
and presently both caught sight of a lion peaceably sitting 
on a rock within the circle of men. Mebalwe fired and 
missed, the ball striking the rock close to the animal, 



84 



A Narrow Escape. 



which turned and bit at the spot for a moment, and then, 
breaking through the natives, got off unhurt. 

The men, oppressed with a belief that some sorcerer had 
given them over to the power of the lions, allowed two 
others to escapo in a similar manner without any attempt 
to spear them, and, disgusted at the turn affairs had taken, 
Livingstone was returning home when he saw another lion 
on a rock with a small bush in front. Being within range, 
our hero took good aim, and lodged the contents of both 
barrels of his gun in the huge brute's body. He saw the 
enraged creature's tail erect itself behind the bush, and was 
loading again as fast as possible, when a loud shout struck 
upon his ear. Starting and looking round, he just caught 
sight of the lion in the act of springing upon him, and the 
next moment was felled to the ground by a blow from 
his claw on the shoulder. Shaken "as a terrier dog 
would shake a rat," a sort of stupor came over the 
unhappy missionary, in which he tells us he felt no pain 
nor terror, though he was quite conscious of what was 
happening. 

Turning himself with difficulty in the clutch of his 
adversary, who had one paw on the back of his head, 
Livingstone saw Mebalwe fire and miss ! Then when all 
hope seemed gone, the lion suddenly left him to attack the 
schoolmaster, whom he bit in the thigh. A third man, 
who tried to spear him, again diverted his attention, but as 
he sprang upon this new enemy, tearing his shoulder, he 
fell down dead. The bone of Livingstone's arm was 
crunched into splinters, and he received besides eleven 
teeth wounds. Endued with an iron constitution, how- 
ever, he quickly recovered, although he was subject until 
his death to occasional twinges in the injured limb. 



Livingstone's Marriage. 85 



The day after this narrow escape, a huge bonfire was 
made over the carcase of the lion, " to take the charm out 
of him," and from that time the land had rest from the 
ravages of his comrades, for, as Livingstone had anticipated, 
they all decamped to the desert. 

Many months of earnest work amongst the Makatla 
were succeeded in 1844 by a visit to Cape Town, during 
which Livingstone was married to Moffat's eldest daughter, 
to whom he had long been engaged, and who now became 
the almost constant companion of his journeys. In 1845 
we find the newly-married couple taking, or we should 
rather say setting, up their residence — for their house was 
the work of Livingstone's own hands — at Sochuane, then 
the head-quarters of the Bakwain chief Sechele, an intelli- 
gent, noble-hearted man, who proved himself from the first 
an earnest friend to Livingstone, a fact the more remark- 
able in that, as a rain- maker by profession, he belonged to 
a class of men who did more than any other, except per- 
haps the Boers, to retard the progress of missionary work 
in South Africa. 

On Livingstone's holding his first service in Sochuane, 
Sechele begged to be allowed, as in native public meetings, 
to ask a few questions on the subject of the white man's 
belief. Only too glad to invite inquiry, our hero readily 
assented, and Sechele began by inquiring if his guest's fore- 
fathers believed in a future judgment. Answered in the 
affirmative, and with a quotation from the description of 
" the great white throne, and Him who shall sit on it," 
Sechele exclaimed, " You startle me — these words make all 
my bones to shake — I have no more strength in me ; but 
my forefathers were living at the same time as yours were, 
and how is it they did not send them word about these 



86 



Conversion of Sechele. 



terrible things sooner? They all passed into darkness 
without knowing whither they were going." 

Livingstone explained the difficulty in the past of inter- 
course between the different countries of the world, and 
expressed his fervent hope that the Gospel would yet, as 
Christ had foretold, be known all over the world. Pointing 
to the great Kalahari desert, Sechele answered, "You 
never can cross that country to the tribes beyond ; it is 
utterly impossible even for us black men, except in certain 
seasons" — a reply showing how limited was his conception 
of the " world." 

Gradually convinced of the truth of Christianity himself, 
the Bakwain chief offered to assist Livingstone in bringing 
his subjects over to the same belief by thrashing them 
with whips of rhinoceros hide, declaring that they ought 
to be only too happy to be converted on any terms. 
To this proposal the missionary of course refused his 
consent, and found his own peaceable method of per- 
suasion as sure if rather slower than Sechele's would have 
been. 

The early efforts of Livingstone amongst the Bakwains 
were, however, greatly retarded by a drought which lasted 
no less than three years, and was supposed by the common 
people to be the result of the influence of the white man 
over their rain-maker and chief. Sechele had accepted 
baptism ; he had sent all but one of his wives home to their 
parents, with a message that in parting with them he 
wished to follow the will of God ; but he still clung to a 
belief in his power to influence the clouds. Not until he 
had had many conversations with the missionary was 
Livingstone able to persuade him that he must resort to 
physical means for watering his gardens, such as selecting 



Hopo Garne-traps. 



87 



some good site near a permanent stream, and leading off 
the water for irrigation purposes by means of a canal. 

Yielding at last, Sechele and his people removed to the 
Kolobeng, a stream some forty miles further south, and on 
its banks Livingstone, this time assisted by the now friendly 
natives, erected a third house for himself and his wife, and 
superintended the erection of a school. For one year the 
experiment succeeded, but in the second and third no rain 
fell on the little settlement, though refreshing showers 
could sometimes actually be seen on the hills in the 
distance. Truly the natives were not altogether without 
excuse in associating their sufferings with the presence of 
the white man. The behaviour of the people in this long 
trial was, however, admirable. The women sold their orna- 
ments to buy corn from more fortunate tribes, the children 
scoured the country for roots, &c. The men were absent 
for days and weeks on hunting expeditions, often bringing 
home some sixty or seventy head of game in a few days. 

Traps called hopos, consisting of two hedges in the form 
of a V, with a lane of tree-trunks between, sometimes a 
mile long, leading into a vast pit, were set near all 
watering places resorted to by the wild animals. The 
hunters then made a circle three or four miles round the 
country containing the trap, and, gradually narrowing their 
distance from each other, drove the frightened creatures 
to the opening of the hopo. At the narrow end of the 
trap men were hid, who threw their spears into the herds, 
terrifying them still more, till the pit was filled with a 
living palpitating mass of buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, harte- 
beests, gnus, &c, some few only escaping by running over 
the backs of the others. 

The meat thus acquired was shared between rich and poor 



88 



Mosilikatse 's Home. 



alike, and after a successful hunt, though the want of salt 
caused a good deal of indigestion, the spirits of the people 
were cheered for a time, and Livingstone seized the oppor- 
tunity of pressing his instructions, winning over many a 
convert by his ready tact and willingness to make allow- 
ances for the difficulties with which the poor natives had 
to contend. Not content with his work amongst the 
Makatli and Bakwains, he made more than one excursion 
into the Cashan or Magaliesberg mountains, some three 
hundred miles to the east, hoping to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of the kindred Bechuana tribes there enslaved by the 
Boers. 

Unfortunately, little could be done under existing circum- 
stances. The Dutch held power of life and death over 
their so-called servants, and Livingstone again and again 
saw Boers ordering some twenty or thirty women to weed 
their gardens or carry heavy loads, giving them no recom- 
pense, but telling them that they must work out of con- 
sideration for living in their (the Dutchmen's) country 
unmolested. All our hero effected by his interference was 
the rousing of the hostility of the Boers against himself, 
and many efforts, fortunately unsuccessful, were made to 
get him expelled by the Bechuanas. Failing that, he was 
asked to act as a spy over the Bakwains, and report any 
circumstance which could serve as a handle against them, 
and justify their reduction to slavery. Needless to say 
that this latter proposal was indignantly declined. 

We may here conveniently add that these Magaliesberg 
mountains were the original home of the great Zulu chief- 
tain Mosilikatse, who was driven thence by the equally 
celebrated Kaffir Dingaan, in his turn expelled by the 
Boers. The last-named, arriving as they did with the pres- 



The Kalihari Desert. 



89 



tige of white men and deliverers, were joyfully welcomed ; 
but before long the poor Bechuanas discovered that their 
last state was worse than the first, for the native chiefs were 
cruel to their enemies, and kind to those they conquered ; 
whilst the Boers destroyed their enemies, and made slaves 
of their friends. 

Towards the close of 1848, the terrible drought being 
over at last, Livingstone conceived the idea of an important 
journey northwards, with a view to exploring the Kalahari 
desert, and ascertaining the exact position of Lake N'gami. 
To carry out this scheme, permission to traverse his terri- 
tories had to be obtained from Sekomi, chief of the 
Bamangwato, and men were sent by Sechele to obtain the 
necessary passport. To Livingstone's surprise, it was 
refused on the ground that the Matabele, the mortal 
enemies of the Bechuanas, lived in the direction of the 
lake, and, should they kill the white man, the Bamang- 
watos would have to bear the blame. 

Nothing daunted, Livingstone continued his preparations, 
employing the delay in obtaining information respecting 
the districts to be crossed. He ascertained that the so- 
called desert was by no means destitute of vegetation, but 
covered with grass and creeping plants; that the native 
Bushmen and Bakalahari (the latter a branch tribe of the 
Bechuana) subsisted on the rodentia and small species of the 
feline race which existed in countless numbers, and that 
the sufferings of the people from thirst were the result, not 
so much of the absence of water, as of their dread of the 
incursions of strange tribes leading them to choose their 
residences far from the springs and rivers. The Bakalahari 
women, he tells us, lay in large stores of water in peculiar 
vessels, consisting of ostrich egg-shells, with a hole, the 



90 Water-di'ctwing in the Desert. 

size of a human finger, in the end of each. A bunch of 
grass is tied to one end of a reed about two feet long, and 
inserted in a hole, dug as deep as the arm will reach, 
round which the wet sand is firmly rammed. Applying 
the mouth to the free end of the reed, the woman forms a 
vacuum in the grass beneath, in which the water collects, 
and in a short time rises into the mouth. An egg shell is 
placed on the ground alongside the reed, some inches below 
the mouth of the sucker. A straw guides the water into 
the hole of the vessel as the woman draws up mouthful 
after mouthful from below. Our illustration will serve to 
give some idea alike of this singular operation and of the 
dress and appearance of the Bakalahari women. The men, 
Livingstone adds, are thin, wiry fellows, trading in skins 
with the Bechuanas, and living on friendly terms with the 
nomad Bushmen, who dwell side by side with them, driven 
to the desert from the south by the advance northwards 
of the Dutch. The small cut opposite represents the 
making up into karosses of the skins from the desert, a 
chief industry of the Bak wains in the time of Livingstone, 
who saw some twenty or thirty thousand manufactured 
during his residence amongst them. 

In May, 1848, Livingstone's faith and patience were 
rewarded by the arrival of a party of natives from Lake 
N" 'garni, who brought with them an invitation to visit him 
from their chief Lechutabele, and gave such glowing 
accounts of the ivory to be found in their land that the 
Bakwain guides became eager to start at once. At the 
end of the same month our hero was joined by two English 
gentlemen (Mr. Oswell and Mr. Murray), who proposed 
accompanying him on his journey, and the first of June 
found them at last en route, 





H — (S.A.) 



Across the Desert. 



91 



Turning due north, accompanied by a competent guide, the 
party quickly reached Livingstone's old home at Sochuane, 
and entered the high road to Bamangwato, running along 
the bed of a former river which once flowed from north to 
south through a flat but well-wooded grass-grown country. 
The next station, Boatlanama, a lovely spot, with deep 
wells for the cattle, was succeeded first by Lopepe and 
then by Mashwe, beyond which the Bamangwato road was 




BAKWAINS MAKING KAROSSES.. 



left to strike across the desert for a Kalahari fountain 
called Serotli, through a sandy district, covered with 
leguminous trees and bushes. The fountain was all but 
dry, and although there was no hope of finding water else- 
where for another three days, it was not until after long 
digging that a sufficient supply was obtained for the eighty 
oxen, twenty horses, and some thirty men. 

Whilst halting at Serotli, seventeen draught oxen 3 



92 



Capture of a Bushwoman. 



frightened by the sudden appearance of a hyena> ran 
away, and were captured by Sekomi, the chief mentioned 
above, who had declined to aid the white man's enterprise. 
Cattle-stealing, such as is prevalent further south, was 
unknown in the desert in those days, and Sekomi sent 
them back to their owners, with a message begging the 
latter not to proceed, for they would be killed by the sun 
and thirst. An under chief, who headed the messengers, 
was horrified at finding that one of Sekomi's men, Kamo- 
tobi by name, was acting as guide to the foolhardy 
travellers ; but although he expressed his dismay in no 
measured terms, he made no attempt to punish the culprit, 
or to dissuade him from the task he had undertaken. 

Having at last succeeded in thoroughly watering their 
cattle, the three heroes broke up their camp at Serotli, and 
started for the north-west; but their progress with the 
oxen through the soft white sand was so slow, that Murray, 
fearing the horses would die of thirst, went on with them 
to the pool of Mathuluani, some sixty or seventy miles 
further west, but, missing his way, he gained little, and all 
the men and animals met at the much-longed-for water in 
a state bordering on prostration. 

Another rest was followed by yet another weary tramp 
along the dry bed of a stream once known as the Mokoko, 
by the banks of which the first palmyra trees, some twenty- 
six in number, yet seen in Africa by Livingstone were 
passed. On leaving the Mokoko, Eamotobi seemed rather 
at a loss about the road, and Mr. Oswell, catching sight of 
a Bushwoman running away in a bent position to elude 
observation, galloped up to her to make inquiries. The 
poor creature thought herself captured as a slave, and 
began taking off her little ornaments to give them up to 



The Mirage. 



93 



her master ; but on Livingstone's explaining that they only- 
wanted water, she joyfully led the party to a spring called 
Nchokotsa, about eight miles distant. 

Near by was a huge salt-pan, some twenty miles in 
circumference, surrounded by mopane trees, which Oswell 
at first sight took for the lake of which the explorers were 
in search. Throwing up his cap, he gave a loud huzza, 
making the natives think him mad ; but Livingstone, who 
was a little behind, was also deceived, and, until he found 
out his mistake, owns to having been quite annoyed that 
his comrade should have been even an instant beforehand 
with him. 

The mirage on this and many similar salinas or salt- 
pans is described by our hero as marvellous, presenting an 
exact picture of a vast sheet of water with dancing waves 
above, and the shadows of trees, &c, distinctly visible 
beneath the surface. Even the dogs, the horses, and the 
Hottentots, who had scarcely had enough to drink at the 
well, rushed down with eager haste ; and a herd of zebras 
looked so like elephants in the mirage, that Oswell began 
saddling a horse to hunt them. 

Getting over their disappointment as best they could, 
and little dreaming that they were still more than three 
hundred miles from Lake N'gami, the caravan pressed 
on, only to be again and again deceived in a similar 
manner, till the three explorers, riding forward on horse- 
back, came, on the 4th July, to the true waters of the 
Zouga, running in a north-easterly direction, with a 
Bahurutsi village on the opposite bank, the natives of 
which, with their neighbours the Batletli, are supposed to 
belong to the great Hottentot tribe. 

In attempting to cross the Zouga on horseback, Oswell's 



94 



Native Treachery. 



steed sunk in a bog, but Livingstone and two Bakwains 
waded over without accident, and were kindly received by 
the Bahurutsi, who told them the river flowed from Lake 
N'gami, and that, by following it, they should come to the 
" broad water." 

The next day, when, as Livingstone naively tells us, 
they were all cheered by this intelligence, and disposed to 
be friendly with everybody, their ardour was a little 
damped by the arrival of two Bamangwato, sent on by 
Sekomi to drive away the Bushmen and Bakalahari from 
the path of the explorers, and so put a stop to all help or 
assistance by the way. Sitting down by the white men's 
fire, the Bamangwato pretended to feel no enmity even 
to Bamotobi, but after a little talk they went on in 
advance, spreading a report all the way up the river that 
the object of the coming expedition was to plunder the 
tribes passed through. Fortunately, before reaching Lake 
N" garni the headman sickened of fever, turned back, and 
died. The natives attributed his tragic end to his machina- 
tions against the white men, and a little tact on the part of 
the leaders soon led to a friendly reception of the caravan 
wherever it halted. 

After ascending the river for about ninety-six miles, it 
was decided to leave all but one small waggon at the 
village of N'gabisane, and push on rapidly for the lake. 
Messengers now arrived from Lechutabele, with orders to 
assist the white men in their advance, and, traversing the 
peaceful Bakoba district, the home of the " Quakers " of 
Africa, who have never been known to fight, they came to 
a large river called Tamunakle, said by the natives to flow 
from a country full of streams and large trees, a piece of 
intelligence which excited Livingstone so much, by the 



At Lake N' garni. 



95 



prospects it opened of the future discovery of an inland 
water highway, as to render the actual arrival at Lake 
Xgami on the 1st August, 13-49, just two months after 
leaving Kolobeng an event of comparatively small import- 
ance. 

As he stood with his two comrades at the broad end of 
the lake, however, and saw its waters, some twenty miles 
wide, stretching away as far as the eye could reach, our 
hero's thoughts returned to the present, and he was able to 
note that the direction was S.S.W. by compass, and the 
height above the sea-level 2500 feet, its depth and extent 
evidently varying with the rainfall of the country. Xo 
horizon could be seen in a south-south-westerly direction, 
and the waters were evidently shallow even when at their 
highest, as Livingstone saw a native punting his canoe over 
seven or eight miles of its north-east end. Subsequent 
observations have shown it to be some seventy miles long, 
and have proved its occasional connection by means of 
sluggish intermittent streams with the Zambesi. 

Livingstone's chief object in going to Lake X'ganii was 
to visit the great chief Sebituaue, ruling the Makololo some 
two hundred miles further north, of whom he had heard 
much from his friend Sechele. He therefore applied to 
Lechutabele for guides the day after his arrival, but was 
at first firmly, though kindly, refused, as the two chiefs 
were not on friendly terms. The evident determination of 
his guests to start alone, however, presently moved Lechu- 
tabele's decision, but he again wavered when our heroes 
were actually starting, and instead of providing the pro- 
mised guide, he imitated Sekorni's policy, and sent men 
northwards to warn the natives of the approach of the 
white men, urging them to throw all possible obstacles in 



96 



The Tsetse Fly. 



their way. This conduct to his invited guests surprised 
and disappointed Livingstone ; and having tried in vain to 
build a raft with wood too worm-eaten to hold together, 
he accepted Oswell's generous proposal to go down to the 
Cape and bring up a boat. 

There being nothing further to be done now, the three 
explorers returned to Kolobeng by way of the southern 
shores of the lake, which they found to be rich in large 
game, including a small variety of elephant, the straight- 
horned rhinoceros, and a beautiful new kind of water 
antelope called lech£ or lechivi, of a " light brownish-yellow 
colour, with horns rising from the head with a slight bend 
backwards, and then curving forwards at the points." 

Livingstone remained at Kolobeng after his return until 
April, 1850, and then, accompanied by his wife, their three 
children, and the friendly chief Sechele, started again for 
the lake. At the ford of the Zouga, Sechele, who wished 
to visit Lechutabele, left the rest of the party, who pushed 
on along the densely-wooded northern bank with great 
difficulty. 

From some natives living near the river, our hero learned 
that the terrible tsetse fly, the bite of which is fatal to 
oxen and horses, abounded on the banks of the Tamunakle 
near its junction with the Zouga ; and dreading delay in 
the wilderness, cut off from all supplies for his wife and 
children, he was compelled to cross the latter river, to be 
met on the other side with the news that a number of 
English elephant-hunters were laid low by fever some 
sixty miles off. 

Forgetting all their eagerness to advance, Mr. and Mrs. 
Livingstone at once turned out of their course, and hurried 
to the assistance of the sufferers. One, Mr. Alfred Ryder, 



An Eccentric Guide. 



9? 



a young artist, had already died, but, thanks to the care of 
Mrs. Livingstone, the others recovered. Cheered by the 
success of their efforts, the enterprising couple again 
pressed on, and on their arrival at the lake were rewarded 
for their perseverance by finding that a promise had been 
won by Sechele from Sechutabele of guides for the Mako- 
lolo country. 

Lechutabele also agreed to allow Mrs. Livingstone, with her 
little ones, to remain in his dominions whilst her husband 
visited Sebituane on ox-back ; but before this delightful plan 
could be carried out, fever attacked first the children, and 
then the native servants. Livingstone was therefore again 
most reluctantly compelled to return to Kolobeng, whither 
he was followed by numerous messages from Sebituane, 
urging him to make yet another attempt to visit him, and 
sending three detachments of his men with presents of 
cows to Lechutabele, Sekomi, and Sechele, to bribe them to 
assist the white man in his journey. 

Mr. and Mrs. Livingstone, with their children and Mr. 
Oswell, again started northwards late in the same year, 
and this time, avoiding the lake, made their way over a 
flat monotonous country, with a thin soil covering 
calcareous tufa, rich in wells, to the northern desert, where 
they obtained the services as guide of a Bushman named 
Shobo, who greatly amused the whole party by his comic 
vagaries. Constant coaxing alone could make him move, 
and in the midst of a most interesting march he would sit 
down and observe calmly, " No water ; all country only. 
Shobo sleeps ; he breaks down ; country only." 

On the morning of the fourth day, when the oxen were 
worn out and ready to drop from thirst and exhaustion, 
Shobo disappeared altogether, but, following his footprints, 



98 



Deaths from Tsetse Bites. 



our heroes came in sight, first of birds, then of a rhinoceros I. 
trail, and, lastly, of the river Mababe. The relief at this 
timely discovery, when there seemed danger of the children 
dying before the eyes of their parents, may be imagined ; 
but the joy was a little damped by the loss of several 
oxen from the bite of the tsetse, the animals in their 
eagerness to drink having crossed a small patch of trees 
containing that insect, the pest of all travellers in South 
Africa. 

Soon after the arrival of the party at the Mababe, Shobo 
appeared at the head of a party of Bayeiye, a tribe subject 
to Lechutabele, and, walking boldly up to the Englishman's 
cavalcade, commanded it to stop. His orders being obeyed^ 
rather to his own surprise, he sat down and smoked his 
pipe, his masters looking on at the pantomime in amused 
silence. 

Beyond the Mababe, a district inhabited by the Banajoa 
tribe, extending far away to the eastward, was entered, 
and, obtaining a new guide in the person of a jet black and 
very ugly negro called Moroa Majane, the party crossed 
the river Souta, and arrived on the banks of the Ohobe, in 
Sebituane's country, in a couple of days. Here the ravages 
of the tsetse were terrible, forty-three fine oxen dying from 
its bite, though neither Livingstone nor Oswell ever saw 
many insects alight at a time on the unfortunate animals. 
Strange to say, men, wild animals generally, mules, asses, 
and goats enjoy complete immunity from the sting of the 
tsetse, whilst horses, dogs, and oxen fall victims if they do 
but enter an infected district, without even pausing to 
graze or drink. 

The tsetse resembles in appearance and size the common 
house-fly, and is brown in colour, with four yellow stripes 



Reception by Sebituane. 99 



across the lower part of its body. It pierces the skin of 
its victim with its proboscis, and sucks up large quantities 
of blood. No effect at first ensues, but a day or two after- 
wards the eyes and nose of the animal bitten begin to run, 
the jaw swells, the poor creature shivers as if with cold 
struggles, and falls down dead. In some cases madness 
precedes the end, and in all the suffering is terrible to 
witness. 

The Makololo met with on the Chobe were delighted at the 
arrival of the white men, and informed them that Sebituane 
had come down a hundred miles from his capital to receive 
them, and was awaiting them in a village in an island only 
twenty miles off. Livingstone and Oswell therefore started 
in canoes for the great chiefs temporary residence, and 
found him, surrounded by his principal men, singing a 
solemn native melody expressive of welcome. 

Landing on the island, our heroes were joyfully received, 
Sebituane observing, after the first interchange of greeting, 
" Tour cattle are all bitten by the tsetse, and will certainly 
die ; but never mind, I have oxen, and will give you as 
many as you need." 

The courteous chief then presented his guests with an 
ox and a jar of honey, and charged Mahale, who had been 
the chief of the messengers sent to Kolobeng, to see to 
their comfort. Prepared oxen skins were given them as 
bed-covering, and long before daylight the next morning 
Sebituane was with them, telling them of his own adven- 
tures in crossing the desert when a young man. 

Sebituane —the chief man of the country, and greater, 
according to Livingstone, than either Mosilikatse or Dingaan 
— was a native of the districts watered by the Likiva and 
Namagari rivers in the south, and had been one of the vast 



100 Life and Death of Sebituane. 

horde which came down upon Lattaku in 1824, and were 
driven back, as we have seen in our previous chapters, by 
the Griquas. Fleeing northwards with a little band of 
warriors, Sebituane was attacked by the combined forces 
of the Bangwaketse, the Bakwains, Bakatla, and Bahu- 
rutsi, but he routed them all in one decisive struggle, and 
took possession of Litubaraba, the capital of Makabe, chief 
of the Bangwaketse. 

In his turn attacked by the Matabele, he again and 
again lost all his cattle, but in each case regained more 
than was taken from him, so that, on Livingstone's 
arrival in his country, he had conquered all the black 
tribes within reach, and made even the great Mosilikatse 
fear him. The Zambesi, not yet visited by a white man, 
became the northern boundary of his dominions, and sturdy 
warriors were stationed along it as sentinels. Hearing of 
white men living on the west coast, and craving inter- 
course with them from some dim notion of the good they 
could bring to him and his people, Sebituane once made 
his way down to Damara Land, subsequently opened up by 
Galton and Andersson, but was compelled to return 
home without realising his wishes. Now at last he 
found himself face to face with the fair strangers from the 
unknown south, and, touched by the confidence shown in 
him, he could not do enough to prove his joy and gratitude. 
" The land was before Mrs. Livingstone and the children ; 
let them choose where they would dwell, whilst Oswell and 
Livingstone went with their host to see his country/' 

But alas for poor Sebituane ! he was taken ill before he 
could enjoy the intercourse with the white men for which 
he had pined so long. An old wound re-opened, the native 
doctors were powerless, and Livingstone, seeing that death 



Discovery of the Zambesi. 101 

was inevitable, refrained from interfering, lest he should be 
blamed by the common people. Sebituane quietly breathed 
his last on the Sunday after the arrival of his guests. 
Livingstone visited him with his little son Eobert just 
before the end, and tried to comfort him with a few words 
about a future after death, to which the dying chief 
replied, " Why do you speak of death ? Sebituane will 
never die." A little later he raised himself from his 
recumbent position, and said to a servant, " Take Eobert to 
Manuku (one of his wives), and tell her to give him some 
milk." 

These were Sebituane's last words. He was quietly 
buried a few days later, as the custom was, in the centre of 
his cattle-pen, and his daughter Ma-mochisane reigned in 
his stead. With her permission, Oswell and Livingstone 
travelled one hundred and thirty miles to the north-east to 
a place called Sesheke, and in the end of June, 1851, dis- 
covered the Zambesi, which ranks with the Nile and Congo 
as one of the three chief water-highways of Africa. Unable 
now to pursue its course, or make any scientific observa- 
tions on its position, &c, Livingstone determined to hasten 
back with Mrs. Livingstone to Kolobeng, with a view to 
preparing for a new and thorough journey of discovery. 

Finding, however, on his arrival at his old home, that it 
would scarcely be safe to leave his family so near the 
Boers of the Magaliesberg, whose hostility to his mission 
had increased, our hero determined to send his dear ones 
to England, and return alone. In pursuance of this reso- 
lution, he went down to the Cape, passing unmolested 
through the very heart of the Kaffir war ; and having 
placed his wife and children in a homeward-bound vessel, 
he started for St. Paul de Loando, the capital of Angola, in 



102 



Second Arrival at Kuruman. 



the beginning of June, 1852, accompanied by two Christian 
Bechuanas from the Kuruman, two Bakwain men, and two 
young girls from Kolobeng, who had acted as nurses to his 
children on the journey down. On this new expedition 
Livingstone intended to cross the entire continent of Africa 
from west to east, to trace the course of the Zambesi, and 
to choose a suitable spot in the very heart of the as yet 
unknown interior as a nucleus of missionary effort and 
civilisation. How far this programme was carried out our 
story will show. 

Pursuing a circuitous, or, to use his own expression, an 
oblique direction, Livingstone traversed the Cape Colony, 
crossed the Orange Eiver to the south of the independent 
country of the Griquas and Bushmen, and arrived at Kuru- 
man early in November to find the whole country in a 
state of panic, the Boers of the Magaliesberg mountains 
having fallen upon the unoffending Bakwains, murdering 
many of them in cold blood, and carrying off others into 
slavery. 

Only with the greatest difficulty was Livingstone able 
to induce any one to accompany him to the north, but he 
at last found three servants to join him, and accompanied 
by a man of colour named George Fleming, who had 
procured a similar number, he left the Kuruman on the 
20th November. 

At Mobito, about forty miles off, the party met Sechele, 
on the way, as he himself said, to the Queen of England to 
invoke her aid for two of his children and a former wife 
who had been carried off by the Boers. 

" Will not the Queen listen to me, supposing I should 
reach her ? " inquired the unhappy chief ; and on Living- 
stone's assuring him that she certainly would, but that the 



The Cave of a Deity. 



103 



difficulty would be to get to her, he pressed on for the 
south, only, as our hero afterwards learnt, to be obliged to 
turn back when he reached the Cape for want of funds. 
Later, Sechele himself became a missionary, and numbers 
of tribes formerly subject to the Boers took refuge under 
his government, so that he was shortly even more 
powerful than before — a striking instance of the political 
wisdom, even amongst savages, of the rule of love rather 
than of fear. 

Eeluctantly leaving Sechele to pursue what he knew to 
be a fruitless errand, Livingstone again turned towards the 
Kalahari desert, and now on its borders, now within it, he 
found it transformed from a wilderness into a garden of 
melons, an unusually large fall of rain in 1852 having 
produced a crop of extraordinary magnitude. 

On the 31st December, 1852, after having been much 
cheered by meeting an Englishman named Macabe, who 
had crossed the desert and reached Lake N'gami by night, 
Livingstone entered the Bakwain town of Litubaraba, 
where he spent five days with its wretched inhabitants, 
who were vainly hoping for great results from their chiefs 
journey to the Queen of England. Near this town was a 
cave called Lepelole, in which the deity worshipped was 
supposed to live. No one dared enter it, for none who had 
done so had ever returned. Anxious to see the god of the 
Bakwains, our hero resolved to brave the danger, and 
found it to be, after all, but an open cave, from which a 
river must formerly have gushed out. The only inhabitants 
it appeared ever to have had were baboons. 

On the 15th January, 1853, Livingstone left this last 
Bakwain outpost, and on the 21st of the same month 
arrived at the wells of Boatlanama, to find them empty, 



104 



Curious Native Customs. 



and, pushing on for Mashue, halted for a while by its beau- 
tiful fountains before continuing his journey. Arrived a 
few days later at Bamangwato, he was well received by 
the once hostile chief Sekoini, who made all his people 
attend a religious service held by the white man. 

Amongst the Kaffir tribes at Bamangwato and other 
villages south of the Zambesi, Livingstone found several 
very curious rites performed at intervals, but the details 
were most carefully concealed. Our hero, however, wit- 
nessed the dance called " koba," in which a row of naked 
boys of about fourteen, after answering several questions, 
such as " Will you herd the cattle well ? will you guard 
the chief well ?" were plied with blows from long, thin, 
and tough wands, wielded by full-grown men. Each blow 
brought blood, and the scars would remain for life. This 
was supposed to harden the youths, and render them fit 
for service as soldiers. 

Another curious ceremony was the so-called " boyale," 
for drilling young girls for the duties of womanhood, in 
which the neophytes, clad in dresses of rope made of 
alternate pumpkin seeds and bits of reed, were made to 
carry large pots of water under the surveillance of an old 
hag, often after having bits of burning charcoal applied to 
the forearm, probably with a view to testing the poor 
creatures' power of bearing pain. 

An exhausting journey in a north-westerly direction, 
during which the oxen suffered terribly from thirst, and a 
path had often to be cut through the dense bush, was 
succeeded by a pleasant rest at the Motlatsa wells, where 
our hero was kindly received by old friends amongst the 
Bakalahari there established. Leaving Motlatsa on the 
8th February, the party emerged from a series of mono- 



Entry into Linyanti. 



105 



tonous plains early in March, when they were brought to 
a sudden standstill by an attack of fever, to which all 
except Livingstone himself and a Bakwain lad succumbed. 

Thanks to Livingstone's untiring nursing, all the men 
recovered, but their weakness rendered their further 
progress very slow, and only with the help of some wan- 
dering Bushmen were they able to reach the Chobe. The 
so-called Sanshureh, a water-course filled by the inunda- 
tions of the Chobe, long baffled their attempt to cross it, 
but at last Livingstone and one man got over in a pontoon, 
and, climbing a high tree, caught sight of the broadest part 
of the Chobe, which was, however, flanked on both sides 
by an impenetrable belt of reeds and a peculiar kind of 
serrated grass, only to be traversed by bending it down 
and creeping over it on hands and feet, suffering terribly 
in the process. 

All difficulties bravely conquered, a Makololo village 
was entered, and the natives, gathering round our hero, 
exclaimed, " He has dropped among us from the clouds. 
. . . We Makololo thought no one could cross the 
Chobe without our knowledge, but here he drops among 
us like a bird/' 

Next day Livingstone returned to his party in a canoe 
across the flooded land, and was soon joined by some head- 
men from Linyanti, the capital of Makololo Land, who 
escorted the party over the river " in fine style, swimming 
and diving amongst the oxen more like alligators than 
men, and taking the waggons to pieces to carry them 
across on a number of canoes lashed together." 

On the 23rd May, 1853, Livingstone entered Linyanti 
(S. lat. 18° 17' 20", E. long. 23° 30' 9"), which he found to 
be but a very little distance from the furthest point 
i— (s.±.) 



106 



On the Zambesi. 



reached in his journey of 1851. The whole population of 
Linyanti, numbering between six and seven thousand ; 
turned out to gaze at the stranger, and a messenger soon 
arrived from the reigning chief Sekeletu, son of Sebituane, 
in whose favour Ma-mochisane had resigned. 

An interview with Sekeletu himself soon followed, in 
which the chief, a mere lad of eighteen, begged Livingstone 
to tell him what he wished him to do for him ; and on the 
missionary explaining that his aim was to convert him and 
his people to Christianity, he replied he did not wish to 
read the Bible, for he was afraid it might change his heart, 
and make him content with only one wife, like Sechele. 
He made no objection, however, to his people being taught, 
and Livingstone held several services, at which the Mako- 
lolos who attended behaved with surprising decorum and 
reverence. 

On the 30th of May a serious attack of fever put a stop 
to our hero's ministrations, and on his recovery at the end 
of about three weeks he made an excursion, with Sekeletu 
and some 160 attendants, to Nariele (S. lat, 15° 24' 17", E. 
long. 23° 5' 54"), capital of the Marotse country, crossing a 
remarkably flat district, dotted with gigantic ant-hills, the 
work of the ingenious termites, and embarking on the 
Zambesi, also called the Leeambye, or the large river, the 
Luambejii, Luambesi, Ambezi, and Ojimbesi, near Sesheke 
(S. lat. 17° 31' 38", E. long. 25° 13'). 

The fleet consisted of thirty-three canoes, of which 
Livingstone had the best, and Sekeletu the largest. The 
river, here and there more than a mile broad, dotted with 
beautiful islands, wound through a country exceeding in 
beauty any part of South Africa yet visited by a European. 
Date palms alternated with palmyras, and every variety of 



Among the Barotse. 



107 



large game native to the tropical forests of Africa came 
down to drink, showing no signs of fear at the sight of the 
canoes. The villages, which were numerous, and inhabited 
by a people called Banyete, sent out delegates with 
presents of food and skins for Sekeletu, and Livingstone 
was able to note at his ease the happy relations existing 
between the chief and his people. 

Up to about lat. 16° 16" the tsetse, which alighted even 
on the canoes, was constantly present, but beyond that it 
disappeared, and the lofty reedy banks were exchanged for 
densely-wooded ridges stretching away to the Barotse 
valley, dotted with villages built on mounds, and re- 
sembling in its general character the valley of the Nile. 
In the Barotse valley itself trees are scarce, though the soil 
is extremely fertile, supporting large herds of cattle, and 
is capable of being rendered ten times as productive by 
judicious cultivation. 

Arrived g,t Nariele, a village built on an artificial mound 
close to the Zambesi, the course of which is here partially 
obstructed by a rocky barrier, the party were very heartily 
received by the Barotse, and great festivities, differing 
scarcely, if at all, from those so often described in the 
course of our narrative (see our Heroes of Discovery in 
North Africa), were held in honour of the chief. 

Before returning to Linyanti, Livingstone walked to the 
town of Katongo (S. lat. 15° 16' 33"), on the ridge bound- 
ing the valley of the Barotse on the north, and found it 
surrounded by well cultivated gardens, in which large 
quantities of maize, millet, yams, sugar-cane, sweet pota- 
toes, &c, were raised. Our hero also ascended the Zambesi 
for some little further distance, reaching the junction first 
of the Loeti, and then of the Leeba with the Zambesi, the 



108 Struggle with an Alligator. 

Loeti flowing apparently from the west-north-west, and 
the Leeba from the north-north-west. 

Back again in September, 1853, at Linyanti, after this 
preliminary trip, Livingstone now lost no time in pre- 
paring for his great journey to the west, and on the 11th 
November he started up the Chobe, escorted by twenty- 
seven men of different tribes charged by Sekeletu to protect 
him, and to open up free trade between the Makololo 
country and the white men of the coast. Ascending the 
Chobe, which above Linyanti takes the name of the 
Zabesa, and visiting each of the numerous Makololo villages 
on its banks, Livingstone entered the Zambesi above the 
island of Mparia, and reached Sesheke on the 19th 
November. 

The 30th November found the party at the Gouye Falls, 
where the canoes were carried over the rapids slung on 
poles, and a few days later Nariele was again entered. 
Between it and Libonta, the next stopping-place, Living- 
stone was delighted by the sight of hundreds of birds, 
including some thirty different species, such as the 
speckled and blue and orange kingfishers, the religious ibis, 
the white pelican, the scissor-bills, the sand-martins, &c, 
&c. Large black geese too were seen stalking here and 
there on the banks, and in the river savage alligators 
abounded, at the sight of which Livingstone owns to being 
unable to repress a shudder, after having seen the narrow 
escape of one of his men who was dragged down under 
water by the thigh, but escaped by stabbing his scaly 
antagonist in the shoulder with a short javelin. The 
alligator, writhing with pain, left his victim, who swam 
back to the canoe with the blood gushing from his 
wounds. 



A Female Tyrant. 



109 



Beyond Libonta, the last Makololo village, the country 
was at first almost entirely uninhabited, though rich in 
game of great variety. A Sunday was spent at the con- 
fluence of the Leeba and Zambesi, south of which deep 
water stretches down to the far-famed Victoria Falls, not 
visited by Livingstone until after his return journey to 
Linyanti. Leaving the Zambesi on the 28th December, 
the party embarked on the Leeba, and ascended it 
for some distance, till the Balonda country, the first 
village of which was governed by a woman named 
Manenko, was entered, where our hero was rather coldly 
received, as he was supposed to have profited by the 
capture of some of the natives as slaves a short time 
previously. The fact that he brought with him two or 
three of the victims sent back by Sekeletu, however, pro- 
duced something of a reaction in his favour, and Manenko 
promised to visit him, but kept him waiting so long for an 
interview that he lost patience, and went on without 
seeing her. 

On the 6th January, however, just after the arrival of 
our party in the village of another female chief, named 
Nyamoana, Manenko made her appearance. A tall strap- 
ping woman about twenty, with her body smeared all over 
with a mixture of fat and red ochre, and no clothing but a 
profusion of ornaments round her neck, her sable highness 
conducted herself in a very overbearing manner, and 
announced her intention of accompanying Livingstone to 
the residence of her uncle Shinte or Kabompo, the greatest 
Balonda of the country. This intention she carried out, 
and Livingstone gives a pathetic account of his sufferings 
in consequence. First she could not be induced to start, 
and when, after several days' delay, she trusted her precious 



110 Reception by Chief ShintS. 



person on a canoe to cross a little stream, having first had 
some charms repeated over her by her doctor, she enlivened 
the journey with perpetual scoldings. Leaving the river, a 
tract of forest land was traversed beneath heavy rain, 
Manenko's escort keeping up an unceasing clatter with 
their weapons. 

Disdaining to ride, Manenko trudged along on foot at a 
pace which few men could equal, and Livingstone, being on 
ox-back, rode leisurely beside her. Once, bending down to 
his lady leader, he ventured to enquire why she did not 
protect herself from the rain with a little clothing, and 
was answered that it would be effeminate for a chief to 
do so. 

Again and again delayed at Balonda villages by the 
incessant rain or by Manenko's manoeuvres, and as they 
advanced further north compelled to cut their way with 
an axe through the dense tropical forests here lining the 
banks of the Leeba, the party did not reach Shinte's 
village until the 17th January, but the cordial reception 
there met with did much to atone for the troubles of the 
journey. 

Shinte declared himself greatly honoured by Living- 
stone's visit, and gave his guests a reception rivalling in 
barbaric magnificence any ceremony of the kind yet 
witnessed by our hero. The " kotla," or place of audience, 
about a hundred yards square, overlooked by numerous 
well-built conical-roofed houses, was lined with warriors, 
including many Mambari, or half-caste Portuguese slave- 
traders from the west. Two trees of the banyan species 
stood at one end, and beneath one of them sat Shinte 
wearing no clothing but some scanty drapery about the 
loins, and numerous bracelets on his arms and legs. 




DR. LIVINGSTONE'S RECEPTION AT A VILLAGE NEAR KATEMA. 



Across Loanda. 



Ill 



Opposite to him and beneath the second tree Livingstone 
seated himself on his own camp-stool, his attendants 
grouping themselves behind him. Filing before their 
host, Manenko's party saluted him by clapping their hands, 
and the headmen of Shinte's tribe answered by making 
obeisance and scattering ashes. Then the soldiers, all 
armed to the teeth, made a kind of dash at the strangers, 
which they bore unmoved, and the preliminaries were 
over. 

Behind Shinto sat some hundred women, all gorgeous in 
red baize drapery, and in front was his chief wife, a 
Matabele woman, distinguished by a curious red cap on 
her head. All having made their salutations, a good deal 
of springing, dancing, and so-called music ensued, succeeded 
by speeches, between each of which the women sang a 
plaintive ditty. Nine orations were delivered with the 
greatest decorum, and then Shinte rose as a signal for the 
breaking up of the meeting. The soldiers discharged their 
guns, and the company dispersed. 

Livingstone was detained some little time in Shinty's 
town by fever and his host's unwillingness to allow him to 
depart, but on the 26th February he managed to get off, 
his escort augmented by six Balonda men to help to carry 
his luggage. Crossing the southern part of Loanda, and 
halting at various villages — at one of which the inhabitants 
carried their hospitality so far as to hurry to meet him, 
carrying the roofs of huts for his accommodation on their 
heads — then fording the river Lotembwa, he entered the 
town of the great chief Katema (S. lat. 11° 35' 49", 
E. long. 22° 27^, one of the largest yet visited, on the 
11th February. 

Katema, on Livingstone's arrival, w r as giving audience, in 



112 



Lake Dilolo. 



the presence of some three hundred men and thirty women, 
to a party of young men who had fled from the neighbour- 
ing chiefdom of Lobale, on account of its ruler selling their 
. relations for slaves to the Portuguese, a fact significant of 
the approach to the western coast. 

The history of the white man's journey and intentions 
in coming to the country having been duly stated by an 
interpreter, Katema bade him welcome, and presented him 
with sixteen baskets of meat. He also promptly provided 
three guides to conduct his visitor to the coast, and proved 
himself in every respect most courteous and friendly. On 
Livingstone asking him what he would like from Loanda, 
Katema replied — 

" Everything of the white people w T ould be acceptable, 
and he would receive anything thankfully, but the coat he 
had on was old, and he would like another/' 

Thus far Livingstone had followed a north-westerly 
direction, through districts rendered fertile by the over- 
flowing of the Leeba and its countless tributary streams, 
but whose inhabitants lived in perpetual dread of the visits 
of the Mambari or slave-traders from the coast. Now, 
however, acting on the advice of Katema, he turned due 
west to avoid the track of the dealers in human flesh, and 
a little beyond Katema's village came to Lake Dilolo, from 
which flows the Leeba from the highest point of the water- 
shed dividing the rivers running up to the Atlantic from 
those running down to the Indian Ocean. The origin of 
Lake Dilolo is thus explained by tradition. The people of 
a native village refused to supply a certain female chief 
with food when she asked for it. Threatening to show 
what she could do as a punishment, the angry suppliant 
sang a song ending in her own name, Monenga-woo, and 



In the Kwango Valley. 113 

as the last note rung out, " village, people, fowls, and dogs" 
sank to reappear no more. Kasiinate, the headman of the 
luckless town, was absent at the time, but on his return 
home he flung himself into the lake in despair. Dilolo is 
derived from a word meaning the loss of all hope. 

Entering the unflooded lands beyond the plains on the 
24th February, our hero descended into the first deep 
valley since leaving Kolobeng, and found himself in 
scenery differing considerably from that hitherto traversed. 
At Katende, the first village entered, Katema's guides 
returned home, and Livingstone , went on with his original 
party, picking up a fresh guide for his next stage at every 
village. Crossing a number of streams flowing northwards, 
he came to the outskirts of the territory inhabited by the 
Chiboque negroes on the 4th March, and narrowly escaped 
massacre at Njambi, where his people became embroiled 
with the warlike natives, who tried to capture some of theii 
visitors as slaves. This turned out to be a common 
practise amongst the Chiboque and other tribes living near 
the Portuguese settlements, and to avoid similar difficulties, 
Livingstone refrained, whenever possible, from halting in 
villages. 

Beyond Chiboque the course was again north-west, and 
after crossing the Loajuna, the Chikapa, the Luva, the Pezo, 
and other streams watering fruitful undulating valleys, the 
Mosamba mountain ridge, in which the Congo was long 
supposed to rise, was sighted. On the 30th May the sum- 
mit of the high lands was attained, and Livingstone was 
able at last to look down into the valley of the Kwango, 
which he describes as " about a hundred miles broad, 
clothed with dark green forests, except where the light 
green grass covers the meadows," the river itself, now 



114 



Native Amenities. 



known to belong to the Congo system, wending its way to 
the north. Though ignorant of the fact, Livingstone was 
now very near the discovery of the truth with regard to 
the systems of the Congo and Zambesi ; but he was at 
this time far more bent on missionary effort than on 
geographical discovery, and it was reserved to Cameron, 
Stanley, and others (see Chaps. X., XL, and XII.) to clear 
up the long mystery of the head- waters of these two great 
waterways. 

Descending a steep rocky pass, the party entered the 
valley itself, and, pressing on, arrived on the second of 
April on the banks of a small stream. 

The Chinje or Bashinje, as the natives of the most easterly 
portion of the valley were called, made a demand to which 
Livingstone had now become accustomed, of a man, an ox, 
or an elephant's tusk for right of passage through their 
country; and on our hero's assuring their host that his 
supplies were exhausted, they were anxious that he and his 
attendants should be killed and his property seized. A 
personal interview with the chief, Sansawe by name, 
fortunately somewhat changed the aspect of affairs. 
Livingstone shewed him his hair — always a cause of 
astonishment to the negroes — his watch, and his compass, 
and Sansawe went off without exacting the tribute asked 
for. A little later he sent a message to say that the white 
man must either give him some pounds of meat and 
copper rings or return by the way he had come. To this 
our hero replied simply that he should go on the next day, 
and his interpreter added of his own accord, u How many 
white men have you killed in this path?" which meant, 
"You have never killed any white man, and you will find 
ours difficult to manage." 



Unexpected Succour. 



115 



Expecting from this interchange of courtesies to have to 
cut his way through the Bashinje, Livingstone broke up 
his camp before daylight the next morning, but he was 
allowed to depart unmolested. His men, who could 
scarcely believe their good fortune, said again and again, 
"We are children of Jesus," and pressed on cheerfully 
beneath a heavy downpour of rain, till they were brought 
to a stand near the Congo (S. lat. 9° 53', E. long. 18° 
37'), here 150 yards wide and very deep, with discoloured 
waters, a peculiarity never noticed in any river of Makololo 
or Loanda. 

Anxious to cross the river as quickly as possible, 
Livingstone endeavoured to obtain canoes from the natives 
on its banks, but their chief forbade them to lend any with- 
out the payment " of a man, an ox, or a gun." Our hero's 
blanket was the only article he had left which he could 
possibly spare, but he was ready to sacrifice it rather than 
waste any time so near the first Portuguese settlement, 
where his difficulties would probably end. Doubting 
alike the honesty and power of the river chief, how- 
ever, he tried to persuade his men to seize the canoes 
before he gave up the blanket, but they were afraid of 
being attacked by the natives. Meanwhile the chief 
repeated his demands, and Livingstone's men were stripping 
off their own copper rings in the hopes of satisfying him, 
when a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, 
named Cypriano di Abreu, came up and urged our hero to 
move on to the bank in spite of chief and people, for he 
could get the ferryman to take them over the river. 

Delighted at this unexpected arrival of succour, Living- 
stone ordered his men to move on, and under a blaze of 
ammunition from the natives, which did no execution 



116 Arrival on the Western Coast, 

whatever, the party hastened down to the river. Cyprian o 
made a satisfactory arrangement with the ferryman, and 
Livingstone saved his blanket. As soon as the opposite 
bank was reached, Negroland may be said to have been left 
behind, for our hero was in the territory of the Bangala, 
who are subjects of the Portuguese. 

Cypriano, who lived near the Congo, invited the whole 
party to rest at his quarters, and most hospitably enter- 
tained them for the next few days, stripping his garden in 
their service, and slaughtering a whole ox for their table. 
Neither Cypriano nor any of his companions knew what 
the Bible was, but they had a few tracts about the saints, 
and wore relics round their necks in cases of German silver. 

Livingstone was detained at Cypriano's by the rains and 
by his wish to ascertain his geographical position until April 
10th, and starting again on that date he came, after three 
days' hard marching through long grass, to Cassange, the 
farthest inland station of the Portuguese in Western 
Africa, where he was most courteously received by the 
commandant and the white traders. Prom Cassange our 
hero traversed the remainder of the fruitful valley to the 
foot of the Tala Mungongo range, and from thence pressed 
on through Basongo, the western boundary of Angola, to 
the wild mountain district of Golungo Alto (S. lat. 9° 8' 
30", E. long. 15° 2'), of which he speaks in terms of 
enthusiastic admiration. 

Here he rested for a few days, as the guest of the 
commandant, in a romantic residence, shut in amongst 
green hills, many of them cultivated up their very 
summits with manioc, coffee, cotton, bananas, pine apples, 
guavas, custard apples, &c, with high mountains towering 
above them, crowned with waving palms. 



Native Dread of the Sea. 



117 



Leaving Golungo Alto on the 24th of May, our hero 
rapidly descended the mountains, and, traversing the low 
unhealthy mosquito-haunted coast districts as quickly 
as his now exhausted condition would permit, he arrived 
on the 31st at St. Paul de Loanda, after an almost con- 
tinuous journey of seven months. 

The first sight of the sea astonished the Makololo and 
other servants from the interior beyond all bounds. Awe- 
struck, they whispered to each other that the ancients who 
said the world had no end were wrong after all, for here 
was the end of the world ; it was finished ; there was no 
more of it. Should they be kidnapped and carried off by 
the Portuguese, or perhaps by those mermen of which faint 
rumours had reached them on their journey down ? One 
man asked Livingstone if they could watch each other at 
Loanda : " Suppose one went for water, would the others 
see if he were kidnapped ?" Eeassuring the poor fellows 
as best he could, and promising them that they should 
incur no danger he did not share, Livingstone prevailed on 
them to remain in Loanda till he should return with them to 
Linyanti, and when he had recovered a little from his fatigue 
he took them all with him to see the Bishop of Angola. 

His Eeverence received the whole party with the 
greatest kindness, and in a few days the natives felt 
so much at home that they ventured on board some 
English vessels at anchor in the harbour, when Livingstone, 
pointing to the sailors, said, " Now these are my country- 
men, sent by our Queen for the purpose of putting down 
the trade of those that buy and sell black men." Eeplying, 
"Truly they are just like you !" the simple blacks at once 
took heart, and the blue-coats completed the conquest by 
offering them a share of their bread and beef. 



118 



Back again at Sesheke. 



Having, in spite of much suffering from fever, fulfilled 
the main objects of his visit by opening commercial rela- 
tions between the interior and the Portuguese settlements, 
Livingstone started on the return journey for Linyanti, 
laden with presents for Sekeletu and the chiefs who had 
aided him on the westward trip. The gift for the ruler of 
Makololo Land was a complete colonel's uniform and a 
fine horse, to which the merchants of Loanda added hand- 
some specimens of all their articles of trade. 

Following a slightly different route from that described 
above, our hero got to Linyanti about the middle of 
August, 1855, where he found everything he had left there 
in November, 1853, in perfect safety. A grand meeting of 
all the people was held to welcome him back, and wonderful 
indeed were the stories related at it by his servants of their 
adventures by the way. They had gone to the end of the 
world, and only turned back when there was no more land! 
No, they had not seen Ma-Bobert (Mrs. Livingstone), for 
she lived a little beyond the world, but they had seen 
mountains (two-storied houses), with several caves in them, 
inhabited by white men, and so on and so on. 

Sekeletu was charmed with his uniform, and when he 
appeared in it in church the following Sunday it drew 
off all attention from service or sermon. Offers to accom- 
pany Livingstone on his journey to the east coast poured 
in upon him, and our hero found himself almost too 
popular. Determined, however, not to lose this favourable 
opportunity for extending his missionary work, he re- 
mained patiently at Linyanti until the 3rd November, 
1855, when he started for the east, accompanied by Sekeletu 
and about 200 of his followers. 

Sesheke was reached in the thick of a fearful thunder- 



The Victoria Falls. 



119 



storm, one of the worst yet encountered by Livingstone, 
but he tells us that Sekeletu, now his devoted friend, 
covered him with his own blanket, and before leaving the 
town presented him with twelve oxen, with some hoes, 
beads, &c, for the purchase of a canoe for the voyage down 
the Zambesi. 

Embarking on the river at Sesheke, the whole party 
descended it as far as the island of Kalai (S. lat. 17° 51/, 
E. long. 25° 41/), where it makes a sudden bend to the 
north-east above the world-famous Victoria Falls, called by 
the natives Mosiatunya, or " Smoke sounds there/' a name 
eminently descriptive of the simultaneous effect produced 
on ear and eye by the never-ceasing roar of the descending 
cataract and the smoke-like masses of ever -ascending 
foam. 

Leaving Sekeletu at Kalai, Livingstone sailed down an 
arm of the Zambesi, and in about twenty minutes came in 
sight of the first spray columns, bending in the direction 
of the wind, " white below, higher up dark, and the tops 
seeming to mingle with the clouds." The banks and 
islands here dotting the river are covered with the most 
luxuriant vegetation ; the ferns assuming the proportions 
of trees, the "burly baobab" alternating with graceful 
palms, silvery mohononos, cypress-like matsouris, rich in 
scarlet fruit, many of them draped with gigantic creepers, 
the stems as thick as ship's cables. The Falls themselves 
"are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in 
height, which are covered with forest, with the red soil 
appearing among the trees." 

About half-a-mile from the Falls our hero left the canoe 
by which he had come thus far, and embarking in a 
smaller one, with men well acquainted with the rapids, he 

K-(S.A.) 



120 



Across Batoka Land. 



passed down the " centre of the stream in the eddies and 
still places caused by many jutting rocks," and came to an 
island in the " middle of the river, and on the edge of the 
lip over which the water rolls. . . . Creeping with awe 
to the verge of this island, he peered down into a large 
rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broad 
Zambesi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad 
leaped down a hundred feet and then became suddenly 
compressed into a space of fifteen or twenty yards." The 
result of this transition from a broad to a narrow bed is to 
convert the gleaming masses of water into a surging, 
heaving, foaming chaos, only to be seen in its grand 
entirety when the wind rends asunder the spectre-like 
spray clouds produced by the constant escaping of com- 
pressed air charged with drops of water, which, after 
mounting upwards some 200 or 300 feet, falls in showers, 
and wets the spectator to the skin. 

Beyond the actual Falls the Zambesi rolls on with many 
windings between perpendicular rocks five or six hundred 
feet high, accessible to none but baboons, and in a bed so 
narrow that its depth must be very great to accommodate so 
large a body of water. Looking down into the fissure on 
the right of the island, Livingstone saw two bright rain- 
bows on the dense white cloud of spray, the result of the 
sun being then in the meridian. Near these bows, which 
are of course of constant recurrence, our hero was told 
the native chiefs formerly offered up prayers and sacri- 
fices to the spirits called Barimos, who are supposed to be 
appeased by drum-beating and blood offerings, and are 
always invoked to give success in hunting. 

Having long feasted his eyes on the beautiful Victoria 
Falls, said by many noted travellers to be second only in 



Batoka Customs. 



121 



grandeur to those of Niagara, Livingstone returned to 
Kalai, and made final preparations for his return home. 
On the 20th November Sekeletu and the greater number of 
his men took their leave, and our hero, with a company of 
114 servants, proceeded northwards to the Lekone, a 
tributary of the Zambesi, and rapidly traversing the 
Batoka country, formerly densely populated by a pastoral 
people, whose numbers have been greatly reduced by war, 
he reached the junction of the Loangwa and Zambesi on 
the 14th January, 1856. 

The Batokas, Livingstone tells us, indulge in numerous 
strange customs, including the extraction of all the upper 
front teeth, both of males and females, at the age of thirteen 
or fourteen, producing a great protuberance of the under 
lip, owing to the length to which the lower teeth grow 
unchecked by contact with the upper. According to the 
Makololos this custom originated in the punishment of a 
woman for the murder of her husband, whilst the Batokas 
themselves explain it by a wish to resemble the zebra, an 
animal greatly admired by them. At every Batoka 
village our hero was eagerly received, and the people of 
the neighbourhood congregated to stare at and examine the 
first white man who had ever visited their country. Guides 
were readily supplied, and the journey was more like a 
triumphal progress than an exploration of an unknown 
land. 

As the Bazunga village of Zumbo (S. lat. 15° 32', E. long. 
30° 32'), close to the junction of the Loangwa and Zambesi, 
was approached, however, this pleasant state of things 
changed. The scene of the war between the Kaffirs and 
the Portuguese was then not far distant, and the primitive 
trust and confidence in the white man as a white man was 



122 



A Narrow Escape. 



gone. With his usual tact, however, Livingstone, though 
often in danger of an attack, managed to avoid an open 
rupture with the natives, and was pressing on above the 
northern bank of the Zambesi, when he met a negro wearing 
a hat and jacket, who warned him to avoid the territories 
of a native chief named M'pende, who had sworn that he 
would allow no white man to pass him unmolested. 

Nothing daunted by this threat, Livingstone continued 
his journey, and arrived at M'pende's village the next day. 
The chief at first took no notice of the party beyond sending 
a message to enquire who they were, but on the morning 
of the 23rd some of his people approached the encamp- 
ment uttering strange cries, and waving some bright red 
substance before them. This was intended to render the 
white man powerless, and was preliminary to the assem- 
bling of the whole army for the massacre of him and his 
followers. Quietly making preparations for defence when 
the attack should commence, Livingstone tried to avert it 
by sending the leg of an ox to M'pende by the hands of 
two spies sent by the native chief to reconnoitre, and to 
his surprise the peace-offering was accepted. Two old 
natives came to ask who the traveller was, and on his 
replying, " I am an Englishman," they said, " We do not 
know that tribe ; we thought you were a Mozunga." 

Not knowing that this was the native name for a 
Portuguese, but thinking it meant a half-caste, Livingstone 
pointed to his hair and skin, asking if Mozungas were like 
him. "No," answered his interlocuters ; "we never saw 
skin so white as that." Then after a pause one of them 
exclaimed, " Ah, you must be one of that tribe that loves 
the black men !" 

Gladly responding in the affirmative, Livingstone saw a 



Down the Zambesi. 



123 



change pass over the men's faces. They hurried back to 
M'pende with their report, and the next day the chief, 
now completely won over, sent two of his principal men to 
escort his guest over the river. This was the more fortu- 
nate, as in this part of the country, indeed everywhere in 
South Africa, the headmen of the various tribes took their 
tone from each other, all refusing passage if one did. 

Following the southern bank of the Zambesi, Livingstone 
now traversed the Banyai country, inhabited by a peaceful 
"light coffee-and-milk-complexioned race," chiefly ruled 
over by females, and rich in large game, though so near to 
the Portuguese settlements. On the 3rd March, Tete (S. lat. 
16° 9' 3", E. long. 33° 280, then the furthest inland 
European station, was reached, and our hero, as may be 
supposed, was eagerly welcomed by the commandant and 
foreign residents. 

After a short rest at Tete, which at the time of his visit 
contained only about 30 Portuguese houses and 1200 
native huts, Livingstone embarked on the Zambesi and 
descended to the point at which it is joined by the 
Quilimane ; then, following the course of the latter river, he 
arrived at the Portuguese village of the same name on the 
shores of the Indian Ocean on the 2nd May, 1856, having 
traversed the entire South African continent from west to 
east, and travelled altogether over 11,000 miles of country. 
On the 12th June the successful explorer embarked in 
H. M. brig "Frolic," accompanied by a native named 
Sekwebu, after an affecting parting with his men, who 
were all desirous to accompany him to his own land. On 
his arrival off Mauritius in the ensuing month, Livingstone 
was saddened by the suddejL insanity of poor Sekwebu, 
who could not stand the perpetual strain on his untutored 



124 



Back in England. 



mind, and, when his master proposed taking him on shore, 
jumped overboard and drowned himself. At Mauritius 
our hero was delayed by a fresh access of fever, but at the 
beginning of November he w T as able to resume his home- 
ward voyage, and on the 12th December, 1856, he landed 
in England after an absence of sixteen years. The welcome 
accorded him exceeded in enthusiasm that ever before 
given to an explorer, and was the result not only of the 
importance of his discoveries, but of his simple unaffected 
and manly bearing. In 1858 he was appointed British 
consul at Quilimane ; but before we give an account of his 
further career, we must turn to the "heroes" who supple- 
mented his early discoveries by their work in the south- 
west and north-east of the lower half of the great African 
continent. 




VILLAGE IN BASUTO {.AND. 



CHAPTEE V. 



GALTON AND ANDERSSON IN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA. 

Arrival in Walfisch Bay — The Hill-Damaras — Horrors of Raid on Damara 
Land — Ascent of Erongo — Across Damara Land — Meeting with 
Ovampos — Compelled to turn back — Through Ovampo — Ondonga and 
King Nangoro — Back to Walfisch Bay — To Lake N 'garni from the 
West — Green and Chapman — Discovery of the Okavango River — 
Andersson Wounded — His Last Journey, Discovery of the Cunene 
River, and Death. 



NXIOUS to supplement the discoveries of Dr. Living- 



A k stone related above, the heroes of our present chapter 
determined to explore Damara and Ovampo, the unknown 
districts between Namaqua Land and Benguela, and if 
possible reach Lake N'gami from the west. Finding it 
impossible, owing to the unsettled state of the country, to 
go north by the usual route, they chartered a small steamer 
at Cape Town, and, ascending the coast of the Cape Colony 
and Namaqua Land, arrived in Walfisch Bay (S. lat. 22° 
40', E. long. 14° 45') early in August, 1850, accompanied 
by Timbo, a liberated negro ; John St. Helena, a waggon- 
driver; John Williams, "a right useful servant;" and 
Gabriel, " a young scamp," who had attached himself 
uninvited to Galton in Cape Town. 

Bringing the schooner as close in-shore as possible, and 




126 



At Sheppmannsdorf. 



startling thousands of flamingoes, geese, ducks, sandpipers, 
&c, the exploring party, together with the captain and a 
missionary about to settle in Namaqua, landed the morning 
after their arrival, and were soon met by seven natives 
with Hottentot features, and wearing hybrid costumes, 
consisting of trousers and coats of skins, who readily con- 
ducted them to the missionary station of Sheppmannsdorf, 
on an island in the dry bed of the Kuisip river, which is 




FLAMINGO. 



only full once in four or five years. Here Mr. Bam, the 
resident missionary, gave his visitors a hearty welcome, 
and whilst Andersson superintended the landing of the 
stores, &c, Galton and his host made several interesting 
excursions in the neighbourhood. 

On the 12th September the start for the north was made, 
and after four hours' march the broken country bordering 



Hottentot Atrocities. 



127 



the Swakop, "the artery of half Damara and Namaqua 
Land," was entered, beyond which stretched the unknown 
districts to be explored. Oosop, on the lower part of 
the river, appeared to be uninhabited, except by a few 
straggling Ghou Damup or Hill-Damara negroes, who 
lived "like jackdaws up in the hills, and spoke no language 
but Hottentot." 

Keeping parallel with the Swakop, our travellers came 
to the gorge of Davieep on the 21st September, where the 
mules strayed during the night, and were recovered with 
difficulty, one having been killed by a lion before they 
were found. On the 25th four Ghou Damup or Hill- 
Damara negroes joined the party, and acted as guides to 
the missionary station of Otjimbingu^, where the white 
men were shocked to hear of a recent attack by Namaqua 
Hottentots on the Damara village of Schelmen's Hope, in 
which the natives were all either murdered or mutilated, 
and the resident missionary compelled to flee for his life. 

The effect of this raid was to make all the Damara who 
had anything to lose retreat into the interior of their 
country, and to render them suspicious of all visitors. 
Galton therefore determined to make a trip on ox-back 
to Barmen, then the head-quarters of Namaqua and 
Damara intelligence, some miles further east, and, leaving 
Andersson in charge of his camp, he started without delay, 
accompanied by two settlers named Hans and Stewardson 
A ride of a few days over broken ground, with here and 
there a terrible proof of the horrors lately enacted in the 
shape of dead bodies half devoured by hyenas, brought the 
trio to Barmen, then crowded with Damara fugitives, who 
had collected there with their herds of cattle on their way 
to their mountain fastnesses. Amongst others were two 



128 



Among the Damaras. 



poor women who had had their feet cut off at the ankle- 
joints by the Namaquas, and had crawled some twenty 
miles, stopping the blood by poking the bleeding stumps 
into the sand. 

Horrified at what he witnessed, GTalton remained but 
one whole day at Barmen, and then returned to the camp 
at Otjimbingue, where he found everything in admirable 
order under Andersson's supervision, and learnt that all 
had gone well in his absence except for several alarms of 
lions. After consultation with his English comrade, Galton 
now decided to return himself to Barmen, and endeavour to 
open communications with the Damara chieftains, whilst 
Andersson and Hans, who had permanently joined the 
party, remained behind to hunt, train oxen for the further 
journey, &c. 

This programme was carried out, and early in De- 
cember Galton made an excursion to Erongo, a curiously- 
shaped mountain forming the stronghold of the Hill- 
Damaras, accompanied by Hans, who had already visited 
it, and a few other servants. Crossing the broad valley of 
the Swakop, the party arrived at the first Damara village 
on the ensuing day, and Galton owns to feeling a little 
nervous when first surrounded by a party of armed and 
ferocious-looking savages, whom he describes, however, as 
tall, cleanly made, and perfectly upright, with well-set 
heads, beautifully-chiselled features, and luxuriant hair. 
Smeared with grease and red paint, they were innocent of 
clothing, but really looked as well, says our hero, " as we 
Europeans in our dirty shirts and clothing." 

Thanks to the protection of Hans, who had already won 
the esteem of this wild and untutored race, no actual 
violence was offered to the visitors, though the vagaries of 



Ascent of Mount Erongo. 129 

"that young scamp" Gabriel nearly got his master into 
trouble ; and after buying five oxen and a few sheep, the 
journey to Erongo was resumed. The mountain was 
reached at nightfall, and the camp set up beneath " large 
overhanging slabs of limestone." The morning light 
revealed Erongo in all its curious beauty, consisting of 
masses of smooth white rock, with few fissures, set down 
in a plain strewn with huge round gleaming boulders. 

Guides were obtained without much difficulty, and after 
a day's hunting at the base of the mountain, the ascent 
was commenced on foot. Galton, Hans, and the Damara 
guides climbed for two hours over smooth slabs, mostly 
barefooted for fear of slipping, the path here and there 
lying along sloping fissures, where a single false step would 
have been certain death. The summit of Erongo proved to 
be a " succession of ravines clothed with thorn coppice," 
set down amongst which was the chiefs " werft," or village, 
consisting of a collection of well-built one-roomed huts, 
shaped like snail shells, clustering round the similar but 
larger residence of the headman, who received his visitors 
courteously, though he refused to sell them oxen or sheep. 

Eeturning as he came, Galton got back to his camp without 
accident, and soon afterwards the whole party crossed 
country to Schelmen's Hope, a. little to the north-east of 
Barmen, whence they started in a north-easterly direction 
on their actual exploring expedition on the 3rd March, 
1851, arriving on the 12th of the same month at a lovely 
sheet of water called Kotjiamkombe, where the Damara 
chief Kahikene awaited them with an escort of forty of 
his subjects. The only Damara who had shown kindness 
to the few missionaries who had attempted to settle on the 
north of Namaqua Land, Kahikene now undertook to 



130 



Across Damara. 



protect the white men to the best of his ability, though, as 
he sadly told them, his power was broken, and he should 
be unable to take them further than to his own kraal. He 
was at war with all his neighbours, and he strongly urged 
the explorers to turn back at once ; or if they would not 
do that, at least to avoid the neighbourhood of the bloody 
chief Omagund^, who would only massacre all who came 
in his way. 

With the combined pluck and caution of true Britons, 
Galton and Andersson decided to ignore the former, but 
follow the latter part of this advice, and finding on their 
arrival a little later at Kahikene's village that it might be 
possible to turn the flank of the dreaded Omagunde, they 
pressed on due north, determined to reach Ovampo Land 
or die in the attempt. 

Crossing the central table-land of Damara, rising to a 
height of 6000 feet above the sea-level, and keeping their 
native attendants, who were in momentary dread of an 
attack, in good humour by combined coaxing and threat- 
ening, they rounded the lofty mountain cones of Omatako 
on the 18th March, crossed the dry bed of a little river the 
next day, and encamped between two mountains called 
Omuvereoom and Ja Kabaca, said to be the strongholds of 
the Bushmen and Ghou Damup. Emboldened by the 
absence of any molestation, except from the dense thorny 
underwood, Galton and Andersson ascended Omuvereoom, 
obtaining an extensive view of a bushy, boggy country 
from the summit, and started again for the north on the 
28th March. The guides unfortunately now became sulky, 
water was difficult to obtain, and the sufferings alike of 
men and oxen was very great. On the 30th March, how- 
ever, some Bushmen and women were surprised amongst 



Terrible Disappointment. 131 



the thorn trees. Two of these, a tall sturdy fellow and his 
wife, were captured, and forced to tell the white men the 
way to the next water. 

" It is as broad as the heavens !" said the man ; " it is 
perfectly dry," said the woman ; but as both agreed there 
were hippopotami in it, our heroes took heart, knowing 
that the presence of those animals wa3 sure to imply the 
existence of plenty of water. Pressing on, therefore, in the 
direction pointed out by their prisoners, they came, after a 
weary tramp along the dry bed of a stream, to ox-tracks on 
the 2nd April, and, following a path, entered a Damara 
village on the 2nd April. The people fled at their ap- 
proach, but some women, whose heavy copper anklets 
prevented their running fast, were overtaken and brought 
back. Conciliated with presents of tobacco, they aided in 
inducing their lords and masters to return, and the blacks 
and their white visitors soon became capital friends. Here 
the first definite information respecting the Ovampo, of 
whom every one spoke well, was obtained, and a tall 
Damara, no less than six feet seven inches in height, 
offered to act as guide to a large lake called Omanbond^, 
three days' journey north. 

Escorted by their new comrade, and with spirits cheered 
by the improved aspect of affairs, the party went on the 
next day, only to find on reaching it that Omabond^ was 
dry. The men who had come thus far wanted to turn, and 
even the discovery of some wells of excellent water near 
Omabond^ failed to alter their resolution. Determined not 
to give in now, when the furthest point ever seen even by 
the Namaqua Hottentots was at last reached after so many 
delays and difficulties, Galton bribed his Damaras with the 
present of a new assagai or spear each, and they reluctantly 



132 



Meeting with Ovampos. 



consented to go on, but it soon leaked out that they were 
trying to lead the caravan wrong. Only after much un- 
necessary wandering did our heroes reach the village of 
Okambuti, then the head-quarters of Chapupa, the greatest 
chief of North Damara. 

Asked to supply a guide to Ovampo, Chapupa flatly 
refused, but the white men learned that a stretch of 
country inhabited by Bushmen lay between them and their 
goal, and on the 25th April a man offered to lead them 
through it. Eagerly seizing this opportunity, they started 
on the 26th, and passing numerous hopos, such as those 
already described, reached a fine well called Otjikango on 
the 28th. The next day, alas, they found their self-elected 
guide altogether astray about the road to follow, and were 
compelled to spend the next few days in vain attempts to 
discover their bearings. 

On the 2nd May some Bushmen with whom Andersson 
had made friends were induced to take up the task of 
guidance, and a little beyond Otjikango some natives came 
up, whom the Damaras at once recognised as natives of 
Ovampo. 

Tall, robust, ugly fellows, with closely-shaven crowns 
and one front tooth chipped out, they announced them- 
selves as members of a travelling caravan sent by their 
leader to fetch the white men to their camp. Bemon- 
strance being useless, Galton and Andersson followed them, 
to find the leader in question an intelligent young fellow, 
and the appointments of his encampment vastly superior 
to those of any Damaras yet met with. The two parties 
soon fraternised, but the Ovampos insisted on our heroes 
returning with them to Chapupa's village, promising, how- 
ever, if they would do so peaceably, themselves to escort 



In Ovampo Land at Last. 



133 



them to the capital of their king Nangoro when their 
bartering with the Damaras was concluded. 

As it appeared that the Bushmen on the north were 
really very lawless and ferocious, and to go on against the 
will of the Ovampos would have been, if not impossible, at 
least highly impolitic, the explorers resigned themselves to 
their fate, and towards the end of May were rewarded for 
their complaisance by starting for the long-desired district 
with a strong and friendly escort, headed by the young 
captain already mentioned, whose name was Chikorongoon 
Kompe, which Galton and Andersson shortened into Chik. 

The combined caravans on this final stage of the journey 
included Galton and Andersson's original party and some 
one hundred and fifty Damaras and Ovampos. There were 
also fifteen riding and pack oxen, eight for slaughter, two 
cows, one calf, thirty sheep, and three goats. Beyond Otji- 
kango messengers were sent on to announce the approach of 
the white men to the great chief Nangoro, and about ten 
days' journey through a dense bush brought the party to the 
borders of the corn country of Ovampo, which Galton tells 
us burst suddenly upon him on emerging from amongst the 
thorn trees, looking like a land of Goshen in the wilder- 
ness. Homesteads enclosed in palisades were dotted here 
and there, and riding up to one of them, Chik introduced 
his white guests to his family, encamped their servants 
beneath a magnificent tree near by, and took charge of the 
cattle. " We are now in Ondonga" (corn country), he said, 
" and another day's journey through similar scenery as that 
before you will bring you to Nangoro's town." 

Enchanted with the novelty of all they saw after their 
dreary wanderings in the wilderness, our heroes travelled 
on by slow stages through this favoured district, and on 



134 



King N'angoro. 



the 5th June, by Chik's advice, halted under a fine clump 
of trees a little to the south of Nangoro's capital. Here 
they were left in suspense as to their reception, and 
without food for twenty-four hours, and even on the 
morrow only a little corn was sent to them. The oxen 
were looking dreadfully thin, and their masters were 
beginning to get uneasy, when about midday on the 
seventh their old friend Chik came rushing into the camp 
to say that Nangoro was approaching. Almost before 
Galton could "smarten up" the place for his reception, he 
arrived, and turned out to be an " amazingly fat old 
fellow," almost naked, who waddled in, surrounded by a 
crowd of blacks, looking mere skeletons beside him. 

Galton made his royal visitor a graceful bow, of which 
no notice was taken, and then, scarcely knowing what to 
do, sat down and went on writing. In about five minutes 
Nangoro got up, gave a grunt of approbation, poked 
his sceptre into his host's ribs in a friendly manner, and 
sat down again. Conversation then began, Chik acting as 
interpreter. The presents Galton had provided, which he 
tells us were really not all the right thing for the occasion, 
were offered and rather sulkily received. Nangoro wanted 
a cow ; he didn't care for gilt finery. On the cow being 
produced the brow of his portly highness cleared, he looked 
at the guns, asked to have them fired, and finally departed, 
saying that the white men were free to trade with his 
people. 

As soon as Nangoro was gone, crowds of Ovampo poured 
into the camp, laughing at everything, but taking care to 
touch nothing. They were a merry set, all very clean and 
wearing plenty of ornaments, though scarcely anything 
else. Evidently of an affectionate disposition, the women 



A Summary Dismissal, 



135 



stood in groups with their arms wound about each other's 
necks, often forming really pretty pictures. During 
the ensuing days a brisk trade was carried on by Timbo 
and the other servants with the Ovampo women, who 
appear to have done the greater part of the work of the 
country, and proved themselves first-rate bargainers. The 
evenings were spent at "balls," given in Nangoro's "palace," 
in which Ovampos, Damaras, and Bushmen displayed 
very great agility ; and Galton and Andersson hoped, by 
accustoming the natives to their constant presence, to 
obtain permission to extend their explorations to the north 
and to the west. 

"We must here explain that many years before the 
visit of our heroes to Ovampo Land, Captain Messume, 
of a French frigate, discovered or thought he discovered 
the mouth of a magnificent river called Cunene, on 
the west coast, between the 17th and 18th parallels of 
south latitude. To confirm this discovery was now the 
chief desire of our explorers, but, to their dismay, Galton 
received a message from Nangoro on the 13th June 
to the effect that to-day he might buy and sell, the 
next day he must go and take leave, and the day after 
that he must go back to Damara Land. All those weary 
evenings in the close palace had been thrown away; 
all the waiting, all the delays and sufferings on the road, 
had accomplished next to nothing; and Andersson and 
Galton must return without having traced the course of a 
single river, or determined the position of a single land- 
mark ! 

To this disappointment Galton seems to have resigned 
himself more readily than Andersson. Together they made 
their way back across Damara, together they stood once 

L — (s.A.) 



136 Up the Teoge. 



more on the shores of Walfisch Bay, but, arrived there, 
Andersson felt such an intense longing to go on with the 
work thus suddenly interrupted, that, as he tells us, he 
could not leave Africa. He must at least attempt, as 
originally proposed, to penetrate to Lake N'gami from the 
west, and perhaps — for who knew what might turn up — he 
should yet discover the source of some great river flowing to 
the west, which should turn out to be the mythical Cunene ! 

Embued with this idea, Andersson, after wandering 
about for some time in Namaqua Land, returned to the 
Cape, and thence made his way in a north-easterly direc- 
tion, via Barmen, over vast sandy plains, richly covered 
with fine grass and brushwood, with occasional clusters of 
kameel-thorn trees, to the now well-known Elephant 
Kloof or ravine, beyond which the Tunobois river was 
crossed. A halt at the Bushman village of Ghanze, 
another at Kobis, and the first aim of our hero was already 
near accomplishment, for outside the latter he was met by a 
party of Bechuanas sent by our old acquaintance Lechuta- 
bele to escort him to the lake, on the borders of which he 
arrived in May, 1853. 

After navigating the lake near its shores, and spending 
a short time at Lechutabele's town of Batoana, Andersson 
made a trip, in a canoe provided by the chief, up the river 
Teoge, flowing from the north, but he was compelled to 
turn back a little above the 20th parallel of S. lat., owing 
to the untrustworthy nature of his craft, and the impossi- 
bility of obtaining a substitute. On his arrival at his 
camp near the lake, he ascertained that this result had 
been all along intended by his crafty host, who, it will be 
remembered, had done all in his power to prevent Living- 
stone from proceeding northwards. 



Lake N ^ garni. 



137 



finding it impossible to prosecute his researches further, 
Andersson was now reluctantly compelled to retrace his 
steps. Skirting along the western borders of the desert, 
meeting now a party of travelling Bayeye, Bushmen, or 
Bechuanas, now a group of women and children on their 
way to the carefully concealed springs, or sucking-places, 
to fetch water, he was back in Namaqua Land before the 
end of the year, having done little more than prove the 
practicability of the shorter and more direct route from the 
west to Lake N'gami. We may add that in 1855 the 
celebrated sportsman, F. Green, accompanied by a Mr. 
Wilson and the Swedish Dr. Wahlberg, ascended the river 
Tonga, flowing into the north-west angle of Lake N'gami, 
as far as the town of Lebebe, in S. lat. 18° 11', and that 
the lake has been entirely circumnavigated by the equally 
well-known hunter, Chapman, who also made several trips 
between it and Walfisch Bay, and contributed much to our 
knowledge of the districts visited by him. 

The general result of the observations of these and other 
travellers, however, is to prove Lake N'gami to be after 
all of little importance to the- physical geography of South 
Africa. The principal characteristics of the neighbourhood 
are sluggish rivers, vast salt-pans, and extensive tracts of 
arid sand, frequented by elephants and other large game. 
Little is yet known of the central part of the Kalihari 
desert, but its general level has been asce/tained to be 
3000 feet above the sea, and it is bounded, or we might 
rather say slopes gradually up on the west to the buttresses 
of Owaherero (8530 feet), and on the east to the moun- 
tains of Matoppo (7217 feet), Lake N'gami being situated 
in the hollow between these two ranges. 

In 1859 Andersson made a third excursion from the 



138 



Anderssori s Illness. 



south-west coast of Africa, the discovery of the Cunene 
being still the main object of his researches. Making for 
the north-east of Damara Land, he crossed rivers, cut his 
way through bush and forest, enduring the greatest priva- 
tions from want of water, and arrived at last on the shores 
of a broad river, called by the natives the Okavango, which 
he hoped might prove to be a branch of the Cunene, but 




AFRICAN FR1MEVAL FOREST. 



feared would turn out to be merely an arm of the already- 
known Teoge. To ascertain the truth, Andersson went 
down the stream for a considerable distance, and came to 
the village of Ischikongo, the residence of the chief of the 
Ovaquangari. Here he was kindly received, though the 
natives were at first terrified by his appearance, but an 
attack of fever laid him low and kept him prostrate till the 



Andersson' s Last Journey and Death. 139 

setting in of the hot season compelled him to return to the 
Cape. On the way he narrowly escaped death from thirst, 
and was lying near a watering-place in the desert in a 
state of absolute prostration, when he was rescued by the 
Mr. Green already mentioned, to whom he managed to send 
a message. The Okavango has since been ascertained to 
be connected with the Zambesi basin. 

Not even yet cured of his roving propensities, we find 
Andersson, soon after his recovery, building a hunting lodge 
for himself and Green in Ovampo Land, and, a little later, 
actually joining in a war between the Damaras and 
Namaquas ! Again rescued from death by Green, who 
found him lying wounded in the path of the enemy, he 
tossed about for months in agony in his Ovampo home, to 
rise at last a cripple for life, and start in an ox-cart on 
a last journey of discovery. 

Accompanied by a Swede named Ericson, the maimed 
and battered hero crept northwards till he came to the 
banks of the Ovakuambe river, where the chief, Naguma, 
gave him a boat and thirty men to take him to the 
Cunene. The natives, however, thinking him to be 
dying, and considering it unlucky to witness death, soon 
went off, leaving him and his comrade to press on alone. 
This they did, and after many a halt and many a detour, 
arrived, guided only by the compass, on the banks of the 
long-sought Cunene, which turned out after all to be all 
but unnavigable. 

Too weak to embark upon the river which had for so 
many years haunted his sleeping and waking dreams, yet 
now content to die, Andersson turned back, and after a 
journey of six days arrived again on the banks of the 
Ovakuambe, where he soon afterwards expired (July 5th, 



140 



The Ctmene. 



1867). Ericson, although himself stricken with fever, 
remained to pay the last honours to his friend, whose 
grave is still preserved inviolate by the natives, and is 
distinguished by a hedge of thorn bushes enclosing it on 
every side. 

The identity of the river discovered by Andersson with 
the Cunene, which debouches in the Portuguese posses- 
sions on the west coast, has now been proved ; but though 
it has since been examined by the Hungarian Magyar, the 
German Hahn, and others, it is of but little importance 
either from a geographical or political point of view. 




SPRING OR SUCKING -PLACE (p. 137). 



CHAPTEE VI. 



BURTON, SPEKE, GRANT, AND VON DER DECKEN, AN0 THE 
DISCOVERY OF LAKES TANGANYIKA AND ALBERT N'YANZA. 

Krapf and Rebmann's Discovery of Kilimandjaro and Kenia — Arrival of 
Burton and Speke at Zanzibar — Preliminary Excursions — Start for the 
West — Over the Mountains to Ujiji — Reception at Tura Nullah— The 
Land of the Moon and its People— Serious Illness of both Explorers — 
At the Lake at last — Speke's Blindness — Voyage up the Coast of 
Tanganyika — Difficulties at Ujiji— Trip to the North of the Lake — 
Disappointment and Return to Ujiji — Back again in the Land of the 
Moon— Speke's Journey in search of a Second Lake — Interview with a 
Female Ruler — Discovery of the Victoria N'yanza — Return Home- 
Arrival of Speke and Grant at Cape Town — Voyage to Zanzibar — Across 
Country to Uzinga — Entry of Karagwe — Cordial Reception and Pleasant 
Stay there — Grant's Illness and Detention — Speke in Uganda — Dis- 
covery of a Source of the Nile — Kamrasi and Ungoro — Return Home 
by way of Gondokoro — Von der Decken's Ascent of Kilimandjaro 
— Murder of Von der Decken in Galla Land — Recent Discoveries of 
Snow-capped Volcanoes, 

Y N the east as in the south of Africa missionaries were 
A the pioneers of geographical research, and the discovery, 
by Messrs. Krapf and Eebmann, of two snow-capped 
mountains nearly under the line, in the north-west 
of Zanzibar, believed by them to be the ancient moun- 
tains of the moon, gave an extraordinary impulse to 
European enterprise, suggesting as it did the possibility of 
the rise amongst them of the main stream of the Nile, and 



142 



Mount Kilimanjaro. 



affording a glimpse of a new route southwards to the 
valley of that great river. , It is perhaps not too much 
to say that the accounts sent home by Krapf and 
Eebmann of their own experiences in their various 
trips north, south, and west of Zanzibar, when taken in 
connection with the native reports transmitted by them of 
the existence of a vast inland sea on the south-west, and 
of the numerous travellers who had explored the course of 
the White Nile from the north, may be looked upon as 
having inaugurated the great movement of which the 
meeting of the Brussels Conference was the first phase, 
and the complete partition of Africa by the European 
Powers the last. 

It was on the 11th May, 1848, that Eebmann saw 
for the first time the snowy peak of Mount Kilimanjaro 
(S. lat. 3' 5", E. long. 37' 22"), called by the natives Ndsharo, 
and in later journeys to Jagga, in which province it is 
situated, it became one of the most familiar objects of the 
landscape. On the 10th November, 1849, it was seen by 
Krapf from the coast province of Ukambani, near Mount 
Mamugu, thirty-six leagues from the well-known port of 
Mombasa, and in 1851 Eebmann slept at its base, and 
conversed with the natives about the white matter on its 
dome-like summit. "That silver stuff," said the simple 
blacks, "turns out to be nothing but water when it is 
brought down in bottles," and those who had fetched it, 
they added, had come home in a dreadful state, the result, 
they supposed, of the influence of malignant spirits, though 
Eebmann was of course aware that the suffering was 
merely from intense cold. 

The second snow-capped mountain (S. lat. 1° 6', E. long. 
38° 15'), which bears numerous names, but is now 



Rebmanris Map. 



143 



generally known as Mount Kenia or N'dur Kenia, signify- 
ing the White Mountain, was first seen by Krapf on the 3rd 
December, 1849, and again by the same gentleman in 1851. 
That the snow on both mountains was no mere exceptional 
phenomenon, but of perennial existence, was proved by 
the multitude of rivers flowing from it. Indeed Eebmann 
counted more than twenty having their rise in Kiliman- 
jaro, and Krapf no less than fifteen running from the west 
and north of Kenia. According to the natives these rivers 
were connected with a vast inland sea on the south-west, 
upwards of eight hundred miles long by three hundred 
broad! On these combined data, namely, his own and 
Krapfs personal observations, with the accounts of the 
natives, Eebmann, assisted by another missionary, named 
Erhardt, constructed a large diagram comprising the section 
of East Africa extending from the equator to the 14th 
degree of south latitude, and from Zanzibar sixteen degrees 
inland. 

This map was sent to the Eoyal Geographical Society of 
London, and was at first looked upon as a monstrous fig- 
ment of the imagination ; but, thanks to the exertions of 
Admiral Sir George Back, one of the Fellows, it was deter- 
mined to send out an expedition to test its accuracy, and 
to seek for the great lakes of Central Africa. Our old 
friends, Captains Burton* and Speke (see Heroes of Dis- 
covery in North Africa), were chosen as leaders of this 
great enterprise, and on the 21st December, 1856, they 
landed on the island of Zanzibar, where they were eagerly 
welcomed by the English consul, Colonel Hamerton, who 
had acquired great influence in the country. 

The island of Zanzibar, containing the capital of the 

* Burton was knighted for his services in 1886. 



144 



Delay in Zanzibar. 



same name, is now the most important part of the 
territories of the Imperial British East African Company, 
and is situated about thirty miles from the mainland. 
The town of Zanzibar is now the chief trading station 
of East Africa, its exports exceeding one and a-half 
million pounds in value ; the steamers of the British 
India Steam Navigation Company and of the Messageries 
Maritimes touch at it, and from it have started most 
of the great exploring expeditions of the last twenty 
years. The power of the Sultan is now purely 
nominal, the army and the police being alike under 
British officers. 

It turned out that our heroes had arrived in Zanzibar at 
the very worst time of year for commencing a long inland 
journey. It was the " height of the dry season, when 
water is scarce in the desert tracts of the interior ; and it 
was just before the commencement of the vernal monsoon, 
or greater rainy season, when everything would be 
deluged." 

It was therefore decided to turn the unavoidable delay 
to account by inspecting various places on the coast, and 
paying a visit to Mr. Bebmann, then at his mission station 
at. Babbai, on a high hill at the back of Mombasa, one of 
two large garrison towns on the main shore of the Sultan's 
dominions. With this end in view, a small beden, or half- 
decked Arab vessel, was chartered by the month, and on 
the 5th January, 1857, our heroes, accompanied by a half- 
caste Arab Sheikh named Said, to act as guide and inter- 
preter, set sail to steer northwards, first along the shores of 
the island of Zanzibar, and then within sight of the beau- 
tiful Bemba, the Emerald Isle of the Arabs, where they 
touched at Chak Chak, the principal place. Another 



Down the Eastern Coast. 



three days* sail brought them to Mombasa, and, leaving their 
little vessel at anchor in the harbour, they ascended the 
hill of Eabbai, in the country of the negro tribe of 
the Wanyika, and arrived at the close of the day at Mr. 
Rebmann's house. 

The missionary and his wife gave their visitors a hearty 
welcome, but their accounts of the state of the country 
were far from encouraging. There was a drought in the 
land, and consequently a famine ; the negroes were literally 
compelled to sell some members of their families to save 
the rest from starvation, and a raid was threatening from 
the Masai, a pastoral tribe on the north. Nothing daunted 
by all they heard, our heroes offered to remain and protect 
Mr. and Mrs. Eebmann, but finding that unnecessary, 
owing to the arrival of succour against the Masai from the 
coast, they returned to Mombasa, and, sailing southwards, 
touched at the villages of Gazi, Wazin, and Tonga, the 
coast-line between presenting one continuous scene of 
tropical beauty. The mouth of the Pangani river (S. lat. 5° 
17') was entered on the 3rd February, and landing, the 
English officers, after being entertained by all the grandees 
of the place, wandered about the neighbourhood, now 
hunting, now collecting information as to the inland routes, 
&c., till the approach of the rains and an attack of fever, 
which prostrated them both, compelled them to return to 
the island of Zanzibar, where they remained until the 
commencement of the next dry season. 

The end of May, 1857, found all ready for the great 
expedition to the west, and early in June our heroes left 
Zanzibar to land on the opposite coast at Kaole. The 
party consisted of Burton and Speke, the Sheikh Said 
already mentioned, who acted as leader of the caravan; 
m — (s.a.) 



146 



The Start for the West* 



two half-caste boys from Goa, a couple of negro gun 
carriers, and eight men as general helpers and protectors. 

At Kaole a long and wearisome delay occurred before 
baggage animals, &c, could be obtained, but on the 27th 
June, thirty donkeys having been bought, the start was at 
last made, and, turning their faces west, our heroes entered 
a country presenting in " its general appearance a mingling 
of bush and forest, inhabited in its maritime parts by the 
Wazaramo and the Wak'hutu, with a large sub-tribe called 
the Waziraha. The first, the most powerful and wealthy, 
were chiefly noticeable for their coarse features, their wild 
expression, and their mole of dressing the hair, which 
they wore clotted together with a mixture of clay and the 
juice of a plant, and pulled out into long wiry spiral 
twists. They lived in well-built though small houses, 
grouped together within strong palisades, and wore nothing 
but a waist-cloth and quantities of copper, shell, and other 
ornaments. The Wak'hutu were in every respect inferior 
to the Wazaramo, and lived in miserable filthy huts, 
scarcely recognisable as human habitations ; and the Wazi- 
raha were distinguished by their long beards, a peculiarity 
of extremely rare occurrence in South Africa. 

Slavery in its worst forms was then prevalent in all the 
coast districts,and the petty chiefs,independent as they were 
of the Sultan of Zanzibar, were held in the greatest dread 
by the natives, for they possessed irresponsible control over 
the lives and property of all who come in their way. The 
servants of Burton and Speke were in continual fear of 
being kidnapped, and it was a relief to both our heroes to 
reach Zungomero, on the western boundary of the maritime 
region, beyond which sandy plains smoking with hot 
springs were traversed, and perils from human agency 



Sufferings on the Road. 



147 



were exchanged for the dangers of fever. Towards the 
close of August, however, the east coast range of moun- 
tains was approached, and the spirits of the explorers rose, 
only to sink again as they passed the skeletons of native 
porters, who had fallen here and there upon the road in 
former expeditions. Some of their own men from Zungo- 
mero died, but they themselves escaped, though Burton's 
sufferings were very great. In the actual transit of the 
mountains several men struck for food, as they were disap- 
pointed at the goats being spared for future contingencies 
when they were hungry, a difficulty which Speke settled 
by ordering a march, and going on without the malcontents, 
who had relied on his finding them indispensable. Not 
approving of being left behind to shift for themselves, they 
sulkily followed the caravan, and on their voluntarily 
aiding Burton, who fell down by the wayside in a fresh 
paroxysm of fever, they were forgiven, and allowed to 
march on with their comrades. 

This incident produced a good result, and pressing on 
with fresh courage, in spite of Burton's terrible condition 
of health, they came on the 23rd August to a village in 
the mountains, where they hoped to obtain provisions and 
help. Bat alas ! on entering it they found it deserted, and 
the huts burned down. It had evidently quite recently 
been the scene of an outrage by slave-traders, but our 
heroes' men were so little touched by what they saw that 
they spent the night in singing, dancing, and ransacking 
the ruins. 

At Runiuma, a well-known resting-place for caravans, 
plenty of provisions were obtained, and, crossing a well- 
cultivated plain, the third range of Usagara mountains was 
reached on the 3rd September. Before ascending the so- 



148 



Difficulties at Ugogo, 



called Windy Pass, a long halt was made in a cheerful 
ravine, but the rest failed to do much to restore either of 
the exhausted travellers. It was now Speke's turn to 
suffer most, and he made the ascent, which occupied six 
hours, in a state of semi-unconsciousness, supported by 
two or three natives. To make matters worse, when they 
were about half-way up, and the animals were stumbling 
at every step, scarcely able to proceed, the native war-cry 
suddenly rang out, and from every hill-top near poured 
down archers and spearmen on their way to the villages 
below. The presence of the white man's caravan had 
protected the inhabitants for a time, but now it was 
leaving, and a foraging raid was at once sent down. 

Fortunately no attempt was made to stop the explorers, 
and they arrived in safety at Ugogo (S. lat. 6° 28', E. long. 
33° 3"), on the west flank of the third and last range of 
mountains to be traversed, though in a state of absolute 
prostration. Men and animals were alike incapable of 
further exertion, but, luckily for all concerned, a number 
of natives were waiting at Ugogo to return to their homes 
in Unyamwezi, or the Land of the Moon, on the east of 
Lake Tanganyika, and gladly joined our heroes' party. 

Cheered by the hope of crossing the intervening plateau 
of Ugogo and reaching Kazeh, the great emporium of Arab 
traffic in the lake regions, without much further difficulty, 
Burton and Speke soon recovered their strength and spirits, 
but their troubles were not yet over. The mountains, it is 
true, were left behind, and there were no more war parties 
to be encountered, but at every village the unfortunate 
travellers were delayed to be plundered by chief and 
people, force being used if the exorbitant tribute demanded 
was not readily paid. This state of things reached its 



At Tura Nullah. 



149 



climax at a place called JSHyika, or the wilderness, the home 
of the most powerful chief of Ugogo, who kept our heroes 
prisoners for five days, but finally let them go on payment 
of a smaller sum than that originally demanded. 

The plains of Ugogo safely traversed at last, an important 
settlement called Tura Nullah, on the borders of the Land 
of the Moon, was reached, where an enthusiastic reception 
was given to the travellers. To quote from Burton's 
account of this journey : — " We had reached a large 
expanse of pillared stones, where the van had halted in 
order that the caravan might make its first appearance 
with dignity. Ensued a clearing, studded with large 
stockaded villages, peering over tall hedges of dark green 
milk-bush, fields of maize and millet, manioc, gourds and 
water-melons, and showing numerous flocks and herds 
clustering around the shallow pits. The people swarmed 
from their abodes, young and old hustling one another for 
a better stare ; the man forsook his loom and the girl her 
hoe, and for the remainder of the march we were escorted 
by a tail of screaming boys and shouting adults ; the males 
almost nude, the women bare to the waist, and clothed 
only knee-deep in kilts, accompanied us, puffing pipes the 
while, striking their hoes with stones, crying, "Beads, 
beads !" and ejaculating their wonder in strident expres- 
sions of " Hi, hi !" and " Hin ! ih !" and " Ha ! a ! a !" 

Taking immediate possession of one of the largest villages, 
the porters unloaded the caravan, &c, and our two heroes 
were escorted to a separate hut, if a roof supported on posts 
without walls can be so called, where they were allowed to 
rest unmolested, though the whole population of the 
neighbourhood collected to stare at them, and make their 
comments on their appearance, gestures, &c. 



150 



The Land of the Moon. 



Beyond Ugogo, and the desert known as Mgunda 
Makali, skirting its western borders, the last and most 
interesting stage of this important journey began, for the 
now famous Land of the Moon was entered, the " Garden 
of Central Intertropical Africa, " consisting of a hilly table- 
land, extending from the desert mentioned above in E. 
long. 33° 57' to the eastern banks of the Malagarazi Eiver 
in E. long. 31° 10", thus including in its breadth 155 
geographical miles. Bounded on the north by the Victoria 
N'yanza, afterwards discovered by Speke, and on the 
west by Lake Tanganyika, it has now been traversed from 
end to end by modern explorers, and the origin of its 
name, its former history, &c, have alike been eagerly 
studied and discussed. It is enough for us to state that 
its general character is " rolling ground, intersected with 
low and conical hills, whose lines ramify in every direc- 
tion. The reclaimed tracts and clearings were divided 
from one another by strips of primeval jungle varying 
from two to twelve miles in length," and, as in so 
many parts of East Africa, "the country is dotted with 
' fairy mounts/ dwarf mounds, the ancient sites of trees 
now crumbled to dust, and the debris of insect architec- 
ture." Villages rose at intervals " above their impervious 
walls of milk-bush, with its coral-shaped arms, and in 
rich pasture-lands grazed extensive herds of plump high- 
humped cattle." Lions, leopards, and wild cats still 
haunt the forests ; the giraffe, the rhinoceros, the Cape 
buffalo, the zebra, and the koodoo still roam the plains ; 
and hippopotami and crocodiles abound in every large 
pool. 

The two chief races inhabiting this favoured district are 
the Wakimbu and the Wanyamwezi, the former an immi- 



RIVER-SIDE SCENE AT ASABA 
(From Photo, by Capt. Mockler- Ferry man). 



Arrival at Kazeh. 



151 



grant tribe from the south, the latter the original proprietors 
of the soil, and a typical race of this part of Africa, its 
industry and commercial activity having given it a 
superiority over kindred tribes. Tall and stout, with a 
dark sepia complexion and crisp curly hair, but with 
features less strongly marked than is usual with negroes, 
the Wanyamwezi distinguish themselves from other clans 
by removing the eyelashes, enlarging the lobe of the ear, 
and branding a double line of little cuts from the eyes to 
the middle of the cheek. Sometimes a third line or band 
of three small lines is drawn from the forehead to the 
bridge of the nose. The women extract the lower central 
teeth, and the men chip away the inner corners of the front 
upper incisors like the Damaras. The long tobe or loose 
mantle so often mentioned in our Heroes of Discovery in 
North Africa is the favourite garment of both sexes, and 
beads and copper ornaments are worn in great profusion. 

Entering the Land of the Moon about the end of 
September, and rapidly traversing its undulating plains, 
our heroes arrived on the 7th November at Kazeh, 
then the great centre of the commerce of Eastern Africa, 
thronged with Arab merchants, who vied with each other 
in doing honour to their white guests. Situated in the 
plain of Unyanyembe, the central province of the Land of 
the Moon, with roads running from it to the north, south, 
and west, Kazeh occupies an exceptionally favourable 
position, and with its large houses belonging to the 
Arab merchants and clusters of native huts, to the eyes of 
travellers fresh from the arid plains of Ugogo, presented an 
almost European appearance of comfort. 

At Kazeh our travellers were delayed three weeks by 
illness and over-fatigue, but the 14th of December found 



152 



Across the Malagarazi. 



them again en route, and at the close of the year 1857 they 
entered Msene, occupying the same position in Western 
Unyamwezi. Beyond Msene great difficulties were ex- 
perienced with the porters, who behaved in a very insub- 
ordinate manner, and at the village of Solala, between it 
and the lake, a conspiracy to prevent the expedition from 
reaching the shores of the latter was discovered. This 
necessitated the dismissing of a number of slaves as a 
precautionary measure, and with greatly diminished forces 
the caravan pressed on, only to halt again a little further 
west, owing to the serious illness of Captain Burton, who, 
struck down by palsy,lay for ten days between life and death. 

Eecovered from his own dangerous attack, though still 
weak from its effects, Burton had in his turn to nurse poor 
Speke, who was taken ill with ophthalmia, but declined to 
rest, and, though half blind, struggled on till the Malaga- 
razi Eiver, dividing the Land of the Moon from the lake 
districts, was discovered. Crossing the Malagarazi in a bark 
canoe at the M'pet(5 ferry after a long fight with the extor- 
tionate ferryman, our heroes made their way through what 
Burton calls the usual sequence of jungle and stony neats' 
tongues, divided by deep and grassy swamps, and on the 
13th February, 1858, a date ever memorable in geogra- 
phical annals, began to ascend the eastern horn of a " large 
crescent-shaped mass of mountains overhanging the northern 
half of the long-sought lake." 

Arrived at the summit of a steep and stony Sill, Burton, 
turning to one of his men, asked, " What is that streak of 
light which lies below?" and was answered, "I am of 
opinion that that is the water." " I gazed in dismay," 
adds Burton ; " the remains of my blindness, the veil of 
trees, and a broad ray of sunshine illuminating but one 



Discovery of Lake Tanganyika. 153 

reach of the lake, had shrunk its fair proportions. Some- 
what prematurely, I began to curse my folly in having 
risked life and lost health for so poor a prize, and to 
propose an immediate return. . . . Advancing, how- 
ever, a few yards, the whole scene burst upon my view, 
filling me with admiration, wonder, and delight. . . . 
Nothing in sooth could be more picturesque than this first 
view of Tanganyika Lake, as it lay in the lap of the moun- 
tains in the gorgeous tropical sunshine, ... its 
breadth varying from thirty to thirty-five miles, and its 
clear waters gleaming against a background of steel- 
coloured mountains." 

Whilst Burton was thus gloating over the beauty spread 
at his feet, even admiring the country, now idealised by 
distance, in which he had suffered so much, poor Speke 
stood near him muttering " at the mist and glare before his 
eyes," the only one of the party unable to see the " lovely 
Tanganyika Lake in all its glory/' It must have been* 
after all, but a wretched consolation to feel, as he assures 
us he did, that he was standing upon the great Mountains 
of the Moon, regarding which so many and various guesses 
had been made, and we cannot sufficiently admire the 
heroism which led the exhausted hero to pursue his 
journey with the more fortunate Burton the next day, and 
coast along the eastern shore of the lake, towards the 
Kawele district, in the land of Ujiji. 

Led by the Arabs of the Land of the Moon to expect a 
considerable town, the explorers were disappointed, after a 
day's voyage along banks dotted with miserable hovels, at 
being brought to a halt opposite a thick welting of coarse 
reedy grass and flaggy aquatic plants, through which their 
canoe was poled to a level landing-place of flat shingle — 



154 Arrival and Delay at UjijL 

" the disembarkation quay of the great Ujiji !" — around 
which clustered a few bee-shaped huts. 

Advancing through a din of shouts and screams, tom- 
toms and trumpets, and mobbed by a swarm of blacks, 
whose eyes seemed about to start from their heads with 
surprise, the white men were conducted to a ruined house, 
once the home of an Arab merchant, about half-a-mile 
from the little village of Kawele, where, after paying a 
heavy tribute for the protection of the chief Kannina, they 
were allowed to remain in peace. 

On the ensuing day the chief called upon our heroes, 
who, eager to supplement their great discovery by 
examining the shores of the lake, and ascertaining the 
truth of native reports of a great river flowing from it on 
the north, at once begged for canoes. But, alas ! Kannina 
turned out to be anything but friendly to their enterprise. 
One difficulty after another was put forward. Wild tribes 
dwelt on the north, who would kill any stranger venturing 
to approach them ; the white men must stay where they 
were, and they must submit to daily extortions for the 
privilege of doing so unmolested. The burly sturdy Wajiji, 
the less warlike Wakaranga, the miserable sub-tribe of 
Wavinza, the terrible robber tribe of Watuta, whose settle- 
ments succeeded each other along the lake, though living 
in a state of perpetual feud with their neighbours, would 
agree in harassing and mulcting the white explorers at 
every turn, who, therefore, if they wished to live to record 
what they had already accomplished, must practise super- 
human caution in their further researches. 

Having tried in vain to touch the heart of Kannina, and 
obtain a vessel, Burton agreed to wait at Kawele whilst 
Speke, with a crew of twenty men, went to Ukaranga, on 



On Lake Tanganyika. 155 



the western shore, to try and hire a dhow or sailing boat 
from an Arab merchant there resident ; but the latter 
returned unsuccessful, after an absence of twenty-seven 
days, having done nothing beyond obtaining some little 
further information respecting the size and shape of the 
lake, and the general character of the natives living near 
or on it. 

This disappointment, discouraging as it was, did but 
increase the eagerness of our heroes to navigate the 
northern end of the lake, and at last, by offering an exor- 
bitant sum, which reduced their resources almost to nil 9 
they succeeded in obtaining the loan of two common 
canoes, very unsafe craft for a voyage such as they proposed 
making, but still better than nothing. 

On the 10th April they embarked, accompanied by a 
party of wild and disorderly natives, and after fifteen days' 
cruise in a northerly direction, varied by many a narrow 
escape from drowning, owing to the clumsiness of the 
sailors in managing the boats, they arrived at the village of 
Uvira (S. lat. 3° 32', E. long. 29° 29'), on the north-east 
shores of the lake, where their appearance caused the greatest 
excitement amonsgt the natives. Landing on a strip of 
dirty sand, backed by the plain of Uvira, our heroes were 
invited to the residence of a chief dwelling on a neighbouring 
eminence, but in the shattered condition of their fortunes 
they dared not risk further extortions, and pitched their 
camp on the beach. 

The northernmost station to which Arab merchants are 
admitted had now been reached, and what next was the 
question which each hero put to the other. Where is the 
river we have come so far to see ? Are we, after all, as 
ignorant of the source of the Nile as ever ? 



I 56 Back again to Kazek. 



Speke, who at Kazeh had heard rumours of the existence 
of another N'yanza or lake on the north-east of Tanganyika, 
which he was longing to explore, was less crestfallen at 
the apparent failure of the present expedition than Burton ; 
and whilst the latter was eagerly questioning the sons of 
the chief, the ivory-traders, the boatmen, and every one 
else as to the mysterious river, the former was already 
looking forward to the time when he should have done 
with Tanganyika, and be free to start for the N'yanza. 
When convinced from all he heard that no river was 
to be found on this excursion, Burton still clung to 
a hope of being able at least to lay down the extreme 
limits of the lake northwards, but he was obliged to content 
himself with ascertaining its shape to be that of a leech 
tapering upwards, and the 6th May found him reluctantly 
on his way back to XJjiji with Speke, where the two arrived 
on the 13th of the same month. 

As our explorers were preparing, after this rather unsatis- 
factory voyage, to return to Kazeh, they were met by an 
old Arab friend bringing them fresh supplies of provisions, 
&c, enabling them to accomplish the journey back to the 
emporium of Eastern Unyamwezi without difficulty, and 
greatly facilitating the fulfilment of Speke's long-cherished 
dream of a fresh expedition to the north. 

His sight now almost restored, Speke lost not a moment 
after his arrival at Kazeh in organising a new caravan, and 
on the 10th July he started in the supposed direction of 
the new lake with a good escort, and provisions for six 
weeks, leaving Burton at Kazeh to rest and arrange his 
notes for his now well-known book on the lake regions of 
Central Africa. 

Leaving Unyanyembe on the 11th July, Speke crossed 



Delay in Unyambewa. 157 



a broad valley with a gentle declination, full of tall and 
slender forest trees, and lined on either side by low hills, 
and entered the TJnyambewa district, ruled over by a 
sultana named Ungugu, on whom every traveller was 
obliged to call, but who, as usual with African potentates, 
detained our hero several days before she granted him 
an interview. On the 14th July, however, a messenger 
came to fetch the white man to the royal abode, and he 
was conducted to a palisaded house set down in a wave- 
like valley, one of many undulations characteristic of 
Unyambewa. Arrived in a yard full of cows, serving as an 
anteroom, a number of negroes welcomed him with a salute 
of drum-beating, and in ten minutes a "body of slaves 
came rushing in and hastily desired him to follow them." 

Obeying orders, as in duty bound, Speke and his servants 
were led down one passage and up another into the centre 
of the sultana's establishment, a small court full of mush- 
room huts. Seated on a wooden stool set upon an outspread 
ox-hide, and with his suite squatting round him on the floor, 
the white man now awaited the arrival of his hostess, who, 
however, sent her "lady's-maid " first, just to make sure of 
the harmlessness of the visitor. Being very hungry, 
Speke's first request was for food, and this the "lady's- 
maid," an ugly, dirty, but kindly negress, at once supplied. 
Then, having watched the eggs and milk provided disap- 
pear with extraordinary rapidity, and convinced that the 
white man would not hurt her mistress, the maid disap- 
peared, to return almost immediately and usher in her 
mistress. 

The sultana was a stumpy old dame, "with a short, 
squat, flabby nose," and an everlasting smile, dressed in a 
dirty Arab costume, with a profusion of brass, horn, and 



158 . An Eccentric Sultana. 



ivory ornaments. Squatting by Speke's side, she first 
shook hands, and then felt her visitor's boots, trousers, coat, 
and waistcoat all over. What a beautiful coat he wore, to 
be sure — could he not give it to her ? No. What nice soft 
fingers and hands he had — they were like a child's, and what 
hair — like a lion's mane. Where was this wonderful hero 
going ? " To the lake, to barter his cloth for large hippo- 
potami teeth," answered a dozen voices ; and, satisfied with 
this reply, her highness took her leave, followed by Speke's 
slave laden with the inevitable present, and charged to 
obtain permission for his master to depart. 

Of course the present was voted poor, and not what the 
sultana would have expected from so distinguished a guest. 
She herself would give him a bullock, but that bullock was 
out grazing, it could not at once be caught ; Speke must 
wait. The old story told in so many different ways on 
every journey in Africa— the explorer must never be in a 
hurry. Only after much persuasion would the sultana 
allow our hero to proceed without the bullock, which he 
did not want, and when on the 15th July he at last got 
away, he had to leave three porters behind him to drive the 
animal after him. But he was off again on his way to the 
lake, and traversing a rich and picturesque country, lying, 
as he expresses it, in long waves, as rapidly as possible, 
with many a wearisome delay, owing to the vagaries of 
the natives, he arrived within a few days' journey of the 
lake on the 20th, to be met, however, with the news of 
war on its southern borders, which necessitated a long 
detour. 

On the 30th J uly, however, he discovered a sheet of water 
on the left, which ultimately turned out to be a creek, 
and the most southern point of the great N'yanza, or, as 



Discovery of Lake N'yanza. 159 

the Arabs of Kazeli had called it, the Ukerewe Sea. 
Crossing a grassy and jungly depression, he arrived at a 
deep dirty watercourse, the fording of which delayed him 
several hours, and following its right bank the whole of the 
next day, he came to another and yet another jungle, ever, 
as he knew, close to the lake, but still unable to see it, 
until at last, on the 3rd August, 1858, he ascended a long 
but gradually inclined hill, from the summit of which "the 
vast expanse of the pale blue waters of the N'yanza burst 
suddenly upon his gaze." " It was early morning," he adds, 
" the distant sea-line of the north horizon was defined in 
the calm atmosphere between the north and north-west 
points of the compass ; but even this did not afford me any 
idea of the breadth of the lake, as an archipelago of islands, 
each consisting of a single hill, rising to a height of 200 or 
300 feet above the water, intersected the line of vision to 
the left, while on the right the western horn of the 
Ukerewe island cut off any farther view of its distant 
waters to the eastward or north. A sheet of water — an 
elbow of the sea — however, at the base of the low range on 
which I stood, extended far away to the eastward, to where, 
in the dim distance, a hummock-like elevation of the main- 
land marked what I understood to be the south and east 
angle of the lake." 

Thus took place the discovery of the second of the great 
Central African lakes, and, convinced that he had found the 
true and long-sought source of the Nile, Speke at once 
conceived the idea of undertaking a new expedition which 
should place the fact beyond a doubt. His resources were 
exhausted now ; he could do no more than form a general 
notion of the character and extent of the lake, which he 
found to be about 220 miles, both in length and breadth, 

ST — (S.A.) 



160 



Return to England. 



though of no great depth, Fleets of canoes dotted its 
surface, its shores were clothed with luxuriant vegetation 
and dotted with villages, but our hero could not linger to 
make acquaintance with their inhabitants, he must hasten 
back at once to Kazeh. Having named the lake Victoria 
N'yanza, and the hill from which he saw it Somerset, and 
ascertained its southern point to be in S. lat. 2° 44', and E. 
long. 33°, he returned to the Land of the Moon by forced 
marches, and rejoined Burton at Kazeh on the 28th 
August. 

The down march to the coast was rich in incident 
and excitement, but we must content ourselves with 
adding that the expedition got back to Zanzibar in good 
health and spirits in March, 1859, and, embarking there 
for England, arrived in London in May of the same 
year, where they were eagerly welcomed, not only by the 
society in whose service they had done and suffered so 
much, but by all interested in the great problems of 
African geography. Of Captain Burton we hear no more 
in East Africa, but Speke, full of his scheme for a new 
journey, called on Sir Eoderick Murchison, then President 
of the Eoyal Geographical Society, the very day after his 
arrival in London, exhibited his map, explained his theory 
of the rise of the Mle in the Victoria N'yanza, and obtained 
a promise that he should be sent out again. 

A council of the Geographical Society was at once 
convened to decide on the organisation and plan of action 
of a new expedition, and nine months later our hero 
started for the Cape, accompanied by the now famous 
Grant, his old friend and brother sportsman in India, 
intending to make his way from Cape Town to Zanzibar, 
and thence to the lake regions by his former route. 




VIEW OF ZANZIBAR. 



Start of Speke and Grant. 



161 



Speke and Grant arrived at Cape Town on the 4th 
July, 1860, and were cheered immediately on landing by 
the eager co-operation of the governor, Sir George Grey, 
who induced the Cape Colony to advance them the sum of 
£300 to buy baggage mules, and persuaded the Commander- 
in-Chief of the British forces in the Colony to detach ten 
volunteers from the Cape Mounted Eifles to accompany 
them. 

Thus encouraged, our heroes set sail for Zanzibar on the 
16th July, and, after touching at East London, cast anchor 
in Delagoa Bay, where they made acquaintance with the 
Zulu or Amzulu Kaffirs — sturdy, tall, well-made, naked 
savages, belonging to a tribe forming a kind of transition 
between the true negro of the regions north of the 
Zambesi, and the Kaffirs of Natal and Kaffraria. Between 
Delagoa Bay and Mozambique no incident worthy of note 
occurred, but a little beyond the latter port a slaver was 
sighted, run down, and taken. Going on board of her after 
her crew had been disarmed and her captain made 
prisoner, Speke found a number of poor old negro women 
and children who had been captured in the late civil wars 
in Africa, and sold to Arabs, who brought them to the 
coast and kept them half starved till the slaver arrived, 
when they were sent on board of her, and kept almost 
without food for a week, till good bargains had been struck 
with the captain of their floating prison. Many of the 
unhappy creatures were dying when our hero saw them, 
and others were " pulling up the hatches and tearing at the 
salt fish they found below like dogs in a kennel." 

The slave-ship was sent under British escort to Mauri- 
tius, and on the 17th August Speke and Grant landed at 
Zanzibar. Here Colonel Rigby, the English consul, gave 



162 Ro seller's Trip to the Nyassa. 

them a hearty welcome, but somewhat damped their arcTour 
by telling them of the melancholy death of Dr. Eoscher, a 
young German explorer, who had made a successful trip 
from Zanzibar to the Nyassa, or Star Lake, discovered two 
months previously by Dr. Livingstone, but was soon after- 
wards treacherously murdered by the natives. 

Dr. Eoscher, who had suffered greatly from fever and 
the infidelity of his servants on the journey south, arrived 
on the shores of the lake in a state of such absolute 
prostration that a long rest was absolutely indispensable 
before he could prosecute his researches. After much 
wandering to and fro he found a healthy spot near the lake, 
where he was allowed the use of a house, and enjoyed the 
protection of a chief named Likumbo. Here he hoped to 
remain in peace till the close of the rainy season, when 
he was to be joined by his fellow-countryman, Von der 
Decken, but, tempted by a rumour of the presence of 
white men near the salt lake, Shirwa, on the south-east of 
the Nyassa, he made a trip in that direction, accompanied 
by a few native servants, in the hopes of meeting with 
Europeans. Arrived after three days' journey at the little 
village of Hisonguny, he was invited by its chief, Mako- 
kota, to visit him in his home. Suspecting no evil, 
Eoscher gladly availed himself of Makokota's hospitality, 
and having supped with his host lay down to sleep, to 
be woke in the night by a servant, who told him that the 
chief had sent for warriors from the next village, and that 
he believed an attack to be imminent. The young German 
pooh-poohed the faithful black's fears, and sent him to 
fetch some water from the river. Eeturning as quickly as 
possible from his errand, the servant found the hut sur- 
rounded by armed natives struggling with Eoscher's escort, 



Murder of Roscher. 



163 



and the next moment the explorer himself appeared in the 
doorway. 

One arrow in the heart and another in the throat struck 
him down at once, and the witness, escaping with difficulty 
from the hands of his master's murderers, fled back to the 
Nyassa with the terrible news. A chief who had been on 
friendly terms with Eoscher immediately despatched fifty 
warriors to execute vengeance, and the culprits were 
captured and sent for judgment to Zanzibar, where they 
were still awaiting sentence on the arrival of Speke and 
Grant. No further details of Koscher's great journey 
have ever come to hand, as a few pencil notes found 
on his dead body were all the memoranda he had pre- 
served, but news was received in England of the execution 
of his murderers,. 

Soon after landing in Zanzibar our heroes called on the 
Sultan, who received them very courteously, and promised 
to aid their expedition by every means in his power. 
Though advised by his highness to follow the direct route 
to the Victoria N'yanza by way of Masai and XJsoga, 
Speke and Grant thought it best to pursue a more 
circuitous road with a view to visiting the western shores, 
and accompanied by several of the former's old servants, 
including a man named Bombay, who proved of great 
service, a large body of Wanguana or freed men to act as 
porters, and the ten Hottentots already mentioned, the 
party started in a south-westerly direction at the end of 
September. 

The first district traversed was Uzaramo, a flat uninterest- 
ing country inhabited by an agricultural people, who 
combine the cultivation of the soil with slave-hunting, 
and are chiefly remarkable for wearing more clothing than 



164 



Difficulties with Natives. 



any of their neighbours. The earliest stage of the journey 
was enlivened by the running away of ten out of the 
hundred negro porters, but the rest of the mixed caravan 
behaved well, except for an occasional strike, readily nipped 
in the bud by prompt measures on the part of the leaders. 

Beyond Uzaramo came the hilly Usagara,.and the 23rd 
October found our heroes at Speke's old resting-place of 
Zungomero (S. lat. 7° 26' 53", E. long. 37° 36' 45"). Then 
going down into the plains as in the journey related above, 
the caravan crossed Ugogo, the desert of M'gunda Makali, 
and Umyamwezi, to enter on the 10th June, 1861, the as 
yet unknown province of Uzinga, on the south-west of 
Lake Victoria Nyassa. 

In the latter part of the transit of the Land of the Moon 
the porters mutinied for an increase of daily rations, and 
were only with great difficulty reduced to submission. 
This was, however, nothing compared to the troubles in 
Uzinga, where the natives, accustomed to perpetual raids 
from slave-hunters, were suspicious of all strangers. 
Finding rapid progress impossible, the explorers made the 
fatal mistake of separating, with a view to supplementing 
each other's observations — a policy which resulted merely 
in the exaction of double tribute everywhere, Grant often 
having to pay, after Speke had, as he thought, settled all 
possible demands. Finally Grant was robbed of nearly all 
he possessed, and once more joining forces, the two heroes 
made their way as best they could through unfriendly 
Uzinga and the more northerly Usui, where the natives, 
men and women alike, seemed to be in a state of perpetual 
drunkenness, and on the 17th November, 1861, entered 
Karagwe, on the west of Lake Victoria N'yanza, and 
south-west of the now well-known Uganda. 



A?i African Happy Valley, 



165 



Worn out by ail they had undergone in Uzinga, and 
expecting the usual programme of delays and extortions, 
our heroes were nerving themselves to meet all troubles 
with fresh courage, when they were agreeably surprised, 
soon after entering Karagwe, by receiving a message of 
welcome from its king, Rumanika, who, it turned out, had 
instructed all the chiefs tributary to him to do honour 
to his guests. Food was to be supplied to them at the 
royal expense in every village; no taxes were gathered 
from strangers in Karagwe. These promises turned out to 
be no idle words, but were fulfilled to the letter. The 
people of the villages turned out to be a very superior 
negro race, kept in good order by their sovereign. The 
hilly picturesque country around, and the valley in which 
Karagwe is situated, are alike wild and fruitful, patches of 
rich vegetation alternating with thick bush, haunted by 
black and white rhinoceroses, herds of hartebeests, &c. In 
a word, Speke and Grant felt as if they had entered some 
fabulous happy valley, and when, having crossed the hill 
spur known as Weranhanje, the grassy tops of which rose 
some 5500 feet above the sea-level, they suddenly came 
upon a small sheet of water " lying snugly in the floods of 
the hills/' their enthusiasm knew no bounds. This lake, 
which Speke christened the Little Windermere, because it 
reminded Grant of the English piece of water of that name, 
was but one of many others which, itself draining the 
moisture of the hills, is in its turn drained by the Victoria 
N'yanza. The goal of the journey was near. Soon, very 
soon now, the explorers might hope to stand upon the 
banks of the Nile ! 

On the 25th November, 1861, the palace of King 
Rumanika was approached, and the huge pot of pombe, or 



1GG In Rumanika's Palace. 



native beer, with some " royal tobacco/' was sent to the 
white men, with the message that there was plenty more 
for their people, but that this was for their exclusive use, for 
there was nothing so good as what came from the palace. 

" To do royal honours to the king of this charming land," 
says Speke, " I ordered my men to put down their loads 
and fire a volley. This was no sooner done, than, as we 
went to the palace gate, we received an invitation to come 
in at once, for the king wished to see us before attending 
to anything else. Now leaving our traps outside, both 
Grant and myself, attended by Bombay and a few of the 
seniors of my Wanguana (porters), entered the vestibule, 
and, walking through extensive enclosures, studded with 
huts of kingly dimensions, were escorted to a pent-roofed 
baraza, which the Arabs had built as a sort of Government 
office, where the king might conduct his state affairs." 

His majesty was found seated on the ground with his 
legs crossed, his brother Nuanaji beside him, and the chief 
men of the court around him. The king wore a plain Arab 
costume, stockings made of richly-coloured bead, and 
copper bracelets. Nuanaji, "being a doctor of high 
pretensions, was covered with charms, in addition to a check 
cloth wound about his person." The greeting received 
by the white men was alike warm, courteous, and dignified. 
" In an instant," exclaims Speke, " we both felt and saw 
we were in the company of men who were as unlike as they 
could be to the common order of the natives of the 
surrounding districts. They had fine oval faces, large eyes, 
and high noses, denoting the best blood of Abyssinia." 

" Having shaken hands in true English style," which is 
the peculiar custom of the men of this country, Eumanika 
begged his guests to be seated opposite to him, and then 



Interesting Conversation with Rumanika. 107 

enquired what they thought of Karagwe, adding that in his 
opinion his mountains were the finest in the world. And 
the lake — did they not admire it ? 

Next followed questions about the white man's journey 
from the coast, but it turned out that Eumanika was 
already well-informed on its incidents. He knew of the 
extortions to which his friends had been subjected by his 
neighbours, and he regretted them ; he agreed with Speke 
that similar treatment of other travellers must be checked, 
lest the interests of trade should be compromised, and so on. 
Then came a long talk about the world in general, and the 
proportions of land and water, the power of ships, &c, in 
particular, Eumanika asking most intelligent questions, 
and fully understanding that his guests lived in the north, 
though they had reached him from the south. Why had 
they done so ? " Because," answered Speke, " they had 
heard that he (Eumanika) could give them the road on 
through Uganda." 

Thus in all the intoxication of the moment did the 
leader of the expedition ever keep before him the main 
object of his visit to Karagwe, namely, to advance north- 
wards, to traverse Uganda, to come to the main stream of 
the Nile, which he believed to bound that kingdom on the 
north. But patience, patience yet 1 Eumanika had not the 
power, though he had the will, at once to give the white 
men the necessary permission to enter his neighbour's 
country; they must first send an embassy announcing 
their approach, and then wait for an invitation, which, 
however, would be sure to come soon. Meanwhile the 
land was before them ; let them choose a place for their 
residence in or out of his palace ; they were free to pitch 
their camp where they would. 



168 



Speke on Jus Throne. 



Fixing on a spot without the gates of the royal residence 
and commanding a fine view of the lake, our heroes soon 
established themselves comfortably, and attended by the 
king's sons, who had orders to see that they wanted for 
nothing, proceeded to unpack their heavy goods, and make 
themselves at home. An iron chair which Speke unfolded 
and sat down upon excited the very greatest astonishment, 
and one of the young princes rushed off to tell his father 
that the white man had a throne —he was sitting upon it ; 
he must be very great indeed. 

" This," says Speke, " set all the royals in the palace in a 
high state of wonder, and ended by my getting a summons 
to show off the white man sitting on his throne." He was 
dragged into court, chair and all, sat down, was looked at 
from every point of view, criticised, questioned, and finally 
allowed to retire, Eumanika laughing heartily, shaking his 
head, with the words, " Oh these Wazungu ! these 
Wazungu ! they know and do everything !" 

Speke remained in Karagwe for a month, but Grant was 
detained there by serious illness until the spring of 1862, 
when, as we shall see, he rejoined his comrade in Uganda. 
During their stay with Eumanika, neither of the explorers, 
saw cause to change the first opinion they had formed of 
that chieftain's personal character, but more intimate inter- 
course with him showed that he held many strange and 
superstitious beliefs, and indulged in practices the reverse 
of civilised. One of the latter, which appears to have 
struck Speke most unpleasantly, was the fattening of the 
women of the court to such an extent that they could not 
stand upright. 

Scarcely able to credit the reports he heard of this 
peculiarity in the royal females, the English leader 



Wife-fattening. 



169 



obtained an interview with the king's eldest brother and 
his wife. On entering the hut, he found " the old man 
and his chief wife sitting side by side on a bench of earth 
strewed over with grass, and partitioned like stalls for 
sleeping apartments. . . . The wife could not rise, and 
so large were her arms that between the joints the flesh 
hung down like large loose-stuffed puddings. This result 
the husband triumphantly informed his guests had been 
obtained by milk, and milk alone. 'From early youth 
upwards/ he said, pointing to rows of milk bowls on the 
ground, ' we keep these pots to our women's mouths.' " 
Readers of our Heroes of Discovery in North Ajrica will 
remember that wife-fattening is also practised in the 
north-west of Africa, where obesity is considered the 
chief beauty in a woman. 

Another revolting custom in Karagwe was the mode of 
burial of members of the royal family. Speke relates that 
the body of Rumanika's predecessor, after floating about in 
a boat on the lake until decomposition set in, had been 
shut up in a hut with five living maidens and fifty cows, 
so enclosed that the whole of them subsequently died of 
starvation. 

Early in January, 1862, messengers arrived from Mtesa, 
king of Uganda, inviting Speke and Grant to visit him, 
and reluctantly leaving the latter under the charge of 
Rumanika, the former started, on the 10th of the same 
month, with a party of Arab traders. Rapidly traversing 
the fertile northern districts of Karagwe, Speke entered 
Uganda on the 7th February, and on the 19th came in 
sight of the king's kibuga or palace in the province of 
Bandawagoro (1ST. lat. 21' 19", E. long. 32° 44' 30"), which 
he described as a magnificent sight — a whole hill being 



170 An Unexpected Check, 



covered with gigantic huts, such as he had never seen in 
Africa before. 

Eager at once to open relations with the owner of this 
handsome residence, our hero was advancing towards it, 
when he was stopped by some officers of the court, who 
told him that to enter unannounced would be considered 
indecent in Uganda ; the men must be drawn up, the 
guns must be fired to let the king know of the arrival, 
then a house would be assigned to the visitor, and to- 
morrow he would be sent for. 

Disappointed at this check, Speke ordered his men to 
fire, and was then shown some miserable huts for the 
accommodation of himself and his suite. Indignant at 
what he thought the disrespect of this welcome, Speke 
declared that the palace was the place for him, and if he 
could not go there at once he would return without seeing 
the king ; but a native named N'yanigundu, who had acted 
as messenger to Mtesa, persuaded him to have patience, or 
the consequence might be terrible — no stranger was ever 
allowed to enter the palace ; the white man must conform 
to the customs of the country ; when the king had seen 
him, doubtless he would make an exception in his favour, 
and so forth. 

Giving way to the man's appeal, which was evidently 
well meant, Speke entered the hut assigned to him, and 
was almost immediately mollified by a message brought 
by the king's pages that a levee would be held in his 
honour the next day, which levee, the first of many since 
witnessed in the Palace of Uganda by white men, duly 
came off. 

" Dressed in his best," in which, however, he tells us he 
fears he cut but a sorry figure, Speke, accompanied by his 



Uganda Etiquette. 



171 



travelling escort, decked out in gorgeous array, started for 
the palace in high spirits, the courtiers lining the way- 
shouting as he passed, " Irungi ! Irungi !" (beautiful ! beau- 
tiful !). The Union Jack, carried by a guide, led the way, 
followed by twelve men as a guard of honour, dressed in 
red flannel cloaks, and carrying their arms sloped with 
fixed bayonets, whilst in their rear were the rest of our 
hero's men, each carrying some article as a present. 
Winding up the sides of the hill, the procession entered the 
palace, and passing first the enclosure, in which the lesser 
female celebrities of the court reside, Speke was met beyond 
it by the high officers of the king, who stepped forth and 
greeted him with courteous dignity. " Men, women, bulls, 
dogs, and goats," he tells us, "were being led about by 
strings; cocks and hens were carried in men's arms; and 
little pages, with rope turbans, rushed about conveying 
messages, as if their lives depended on their swiftness, 
every one holding his skin-cloak tightly round him, lest 
his naked legs might by accident be shown," for it was 
against Uganda etiquette that anything should be un- 
covered in or near the royal presence. In fact, but for 
Speke's interference, all his presents would have been 
wrapped in chintz, the prohibition extending even to 
inanimate objects ! 

In the ante-reception court our hero was requested by 
the chief officers in waiting to sit on the ground in the sun 
with his servants, but he had determined beforehand 
neither to do that nor to make any obeisance but such as 
is customary in England. An English gentleman, he 
determined on being treated as such, and the event proved 
him to have been wise, for this rather vigorous standing 
up for his dignity gave the natives an impression of 



172 Speke Stands on his Dignity. 



reserved power. Surely, they thought, this white man 
must be possessed of resources of which we know nothing, 
or he would never thus brave our master in his very 
stronghold. 

On the reiterated but hesitating request of the officers 
that he would be seated, Speke declared that he gave them 
five minutes' grace, and if a proper reception were not then 
accorded him, he would walk away without seeing the 
king. There was a hut close by ; why should he not enter 
and wait there ? 

The five minutes passed in anxious suspense. Speke's 
servants trembled for his fate and their own. The officers 
looked at each other in despair. Finally our hero turned 
on his heel, ordered Bombay to leave the present he held 
on the ground and follow him, and " walked straight away 
home." 

Intelligence of the white man's behaviour at once reached 
the king, who seems at first to have thought of leaving his 
toilet-room, where he was donning all his finery, and run 
after his guest himself, but his second impulse was to send 
messengers entreating him to return ; he would not him- 
self taste food until his guest was with him. All in vain ; 
Speke merely shook his head ; and at last came a humble 
message that if he would only return he might bring his 
own chair with him, and sit upon that, though an artificial 
seat was exclusively the attribute of the king in Uganda. 

The point was gained, and having refreshed himself with 
coffee and a pipe, our hero returned to the palace, bearing 
his iron chair with him. The officers were now all obse- 
quious ceremony ; would their visitor sit down — would he 
hear some music ? A band of performers, wearing long- 
haired goat-skins down their backs, then passed before 




INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEEN -MOTHER OF UGANDA. 
O— (S. A.) 



Interview with Mtesa. 



173 



him, dancing as they went along like bears in a fair, and 
playing on reed instruments worked over with beads in 
various patterns ; drums were vigorously beaten by other 
attendants ; and these preliminaries over, the white man 
was ushered into the presence of his majesty, who turned 
out to be a good-looking young man of about five-and- 
twenty, wearing a loose flowing garment fastened on the 
shoulder, and a quantity of really pretty ornaments made 
of beads, brass, and copper. His hair was cut short, except 
at the top, where it was combed up into a high ridge. 
Staff-officers on one side, a group of female sorcerers on 
the other, and numerous wives behind him, made up the 
court, who were one and all squatting on the ground in 
tailor fashion. 

Invited to enter the magic circle, Speke stood for some 
moments the observed of all observers, unable to speak, for 
he knew not the language, and no one offered to interpret 
for him. At the end of about an hour, however, Mtesa 
retired to get some food, and on his return opened the 
conversation through an interpreter, by asking what mes- 
sages Eumanika had sent him, and being satisfied with 
what he heard, he went to another hut, asking Speke to 
follow him, and when there inquired if he had seen him 
(Mtesa). On this Speke repeated all the reports he had 
heard of his power, &c, and presented him with a gold 
ring, which he deigned to accept. 

A little chat about the object of the white men in 
coming to these parts closed the first interview, and those 
which succeeded it were but repetitions of the same kind 
of thing. A few days after his arrival, however, Speke 
was admitted to an interview with the queen-mother (see 
our illustration), in which he was entertained with music, 



174 Arrival of Grant in Uganda. 

and allowed to remain seated. Her majesty, fat, fair, and 
forty-five, greatly amused her guest by running away 
several times to change her clothes, with a view to im- 
pressing him with her wealth and importance. All the 
vagaries of the court were in short very amusing ; and 
Speke, feted everywhere, had nothing to desire except 
permission to send an escort for Grant, and with him 
proceed on his journey. But here, as everywhere else 
in Africa, the king would fain have kept his white man 
with him for ever. As in Karagwe, further acquaintance 
with the natives revealed many terrible practices, the worst 
of w T hich was perhaps the daily offering of a human 
sacrifice for the good of the state, though Speke seems to 
have been more impressed by the occasional sudden execu- 
tion of one or another of the king's wives for some trifling 
offence. The belief in magic, and many absurd supersti- 
tions connected with that belief, also prevailed throughout 
Uganda, but neither king nor people were as bigoted as 
either the coast or southern tribes of Africa. 

Mtesa knew of the navigation of the Nile by white 
men ; he had heard of Gondokoro, and was anxious to 
open commercial relations with its merchants ; and it was 
perhaps to" this last circumstance that Speke owed first the 
relief and journey of Grant to Uganda, under an escort of 
Mtesa's men ; and secondly, release from what was really 
his own imprisonment in the capital. 

The meeting between the two long-separated heroes will 
be better imagined than described ; suffice it to say that, 
after Grant had gone through all the ceremonies of present- 
giving, &c, to which Speke had already submitted, a preli- 
minary excursion was made on the lake itself, with Mtesa 
as escort, in which Speke's previous opinion as to its size, 




TRANSPORT OF IVORY TO THS COAST. 



The Nile at last. 



175 



&c, was confirmed, whilst the start for the journey to the 
north was fixed for the first week in July. An attempt 
was made, it is true, to keep Grant in Uganda as a kind of 
hostage, but Speke, by the exercise of great tact, managed 
to evade this embarrassing condition. Together the two 
took leave of Mtesa, and together they resumed their long- 
interrupted march, bearing with them, or rather causing 
their porters to bear, large quantities of ivory to trade with 
by the way. As they approached the northern shores of 
the lake, however, an access of illness compelled Grant to 
go direct to TJngoro, the next kingdom to be traversed, 
leaving Speke to complete his great discovery alone. 

On the 19th July, Grant turned to the west, and Speke 
to the right, the former to advance by slow stages to 
Ungoro, the latter to press on as rapidly as possible for the 
head of Lake Victoria N'yanza, from which he believed the 
Nile to issue. On the morning of the 21st Speke at last 
stood upon the brink of the mighty river, not yet in sight 
of its starting-point for its journey to the north, but near 
enough to have no further doubt that the successful com- 
pletion of his task was assured. " The scene," he exclaims, 
" was most beautiful ! Nothing could surpass it ! It was 
the very perfection of the kind of effect aimed at in a 
highly-kept park, with a magnificent stream from 600 to 
700 yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks — the former 
occupied by fishermen's huts, the latter by sterns and 
crocodiles basking in the sun — flowing between fine high 
grassy banks, with rich trees and plantains in the back- 
ground, where herds of hartebeests could be seen grazing, 
while the hippopotami were snorting in the water, and 
florikan and guinea-fowl rising at our feet." 

Having tried in vain to obtain boats, Speke marched up 



176 



A Mystic Land, 



the left bank of the Nile at a considerable distance from 
the water to the Isamba rapids, passing through rich 
jungle and plantain grass. The water near the rapids — 
which are extremely beautiful, but very confined — ran 
deep between high banks covered with fine grass, soft 
cloudy acacias, and festoons of lilac convolvuli, whilst here 
and there, where the land had slipped above the rapids, bared 
places of red earth could be seen like that of Devonshire. 
After a long struggling march, a district was entered on 

O DO O ' 

the 27th July, to which Speke gives the name of " Church 
Estate," for it was dedicated in some mysterious way to 
Lubari, or the Almighty, and the authority exercised over 
it by its human king was little more than nominal, many 
of its subjects having a sacred and inviolable character, 
whilst the land itself was inalienable. Only with great 
difficulty was board and lodging obtained for Speke's 
escort in this mystic land, for the smallest pilfering on 
their part would, so our hero was assured, bring down the 
vengeance of unseen agencies. Wizards and witches, with 
other uncanny professors of magic, abounded ready to note 
every infringement of real and imaginary laws ; but, fortu- 
nately for Speke, his men were well under his control, and 
on his declaring himself responsible for their good beha- 
viour, they were allowed to halt and refresh themselves. 

As was natural, one day more than sufficed for any of 
the party in a place where such very good behaviour was 
necessary, and on the 28th the caravan was again en route. 
Crossing hills and threading huge grass plains and planta- 
tions lately devastated by elephants, who had eaten all that 
was edible, and destroyed with their trunks all that was not 
the expedition reached on the same day the goal of the 
long and arduous journey, the centre of the northern coast 



The Parent Stream of the Nile. 177 



of the Victoria N'yanza, from which, says Speke, issues the 
parent stream of the Nile. 

Flowing over rocks of an igneous character, and forming 
falls twelve feet high and 150 yards in breadth, the Nile as 
it here begins its course presents a beautiful and fascinating 
picture ; but Speke confesses to have been a little disap- 
pointed, as the surface of the lake was shut out from 
view by a spur of hill, and the falls were broken by the 
impediments in their way into a series of small cascades. 
Still he felt that he had accomplished his task ; that he had 
proved the truth of his supposition ; and his only real regret 
was that so much time had been lost in delays by the way. 
He could not now go to the north-east comer of the lake, 
nor could he test the accuracy of native reports as to the 
existence of a sheet of salt water from which another river 
flowed to the north. The carrying on of his work must be 
left to his successors, and for the next chapter in the 
history of the Nile sources, of which the Victoria N'yanza 
has after all turned out to be but one, we must refer our 
readers to our account of Sir Samuel Baker's expedition 
in our Heroes of Discovery in North Africa. 

Having named the "stones," as the natives called the 
cascade, the Eipon Falls, after a former president of the 
Eoyal Geographical Society, and the area of water from 
which the Nile issued Napoleon Channel, after the last 
Emperor of the French, Speke prepared to ascend the Nile 
to Unyoro, an important kingdom ruled over by the now 
well-known Kamrasi. 

To us who know how soon his work was to be supple- 
mented and his fame overshadowed by Baker, there is 
something pathetic in the exulting manner in which our 
hero dwells on the exact position of the Eipon Falls just 



178 



An Unexpected Attack. 



above the line of the equator, and every minute detail of 
the neighbourhood. He is reluctant to turn his back on 
his discovery ; he would fain linger by the waterfall to 
sketch it under every possible phase, and all the time he 
is unconscious of the existence, no long journey off, of the 
great Albert JSPyanza, and beyond that again of the new- 
found Alexandra Lake ! To us, who know the sequel of 
the story, the voyage up the Nile has almost lost its 
interest, but to make our account complete we must 
ascend with Speke and his escort, " in five boats of fine 
planks, each tied together and caulked with rags," from a 
point a little above the Eipon Falls to Kamrasi's capital. 

As the party, leaving Uganda behind them, advanced 
along the shores of Unyoro and approached the capital, 
lines of armed men were seen looking down upon their 
canoes, and presently a canoe full of sable warriors dashed 
out from the rushes behind them, whilst another was 
paddled across the stream in front. Here was an unex- 
pected dilemma. Speke's approach had been duly an- 
nounced to Kamrasi ; it was impossible to understand the 
meaning of so evidently hostile a demonstration. Eising 
in his boat, hat in hand, Speke shouted that he was the 
Englishman on his way to visit the king of the country, 
but his action was only the signal for attack. The war- 
drum beat, the savages shouted and brandished their 
weapons. There was nothing for it but retreat. " Keep 
close together/' cried Speke, as he gave the word for the 
turning back of his little fleet ; but the escort became 
nervous — it was getting dark — spears were flying here, 
there, and everywhere. One boat hugged the shore, 
another tried to go up stream, a third was caught by the 
grappling-hooks of the enemy. It would soon be over 



King Kamrasi Overawed. 



179 



now. But no ; the men in the captured boat plucked up 
courage. A volley of shot struck down three of the 
aggressors. A panic ensued ; the natives in their turn 
retreated ; and Speke was able to land his men unmolested. 

A night of suspense followed, and the next day it turned 
out that Grant was close at hand, on his way from Kam- 
rasi's, that monarch having taken alarm at the entry into 
his countries of two parties, each headed by a white man. 
The mystery was explained now ; this was the meaning of 
the strange reception of the previous day; and, joining 
Grant, Speke lost no time in sending messages of concilia- 
tion to the angry monarch. Fortunately they so far 
mollified his majesty that no further molestation was 
offered to the explorers, but they were long compelled to 
wander about, and wait in jungles, &c, now here, now 
there, before they were allowed to enter the capital. 

On the 14th September, 1862, however, came the long- 
hoped-for invitation. Kamrasi allowed his guests to enter 
his "palace," consisting of one large hut surrounded by 
several smaller ones, and having kept them waiting another 
three or four days, admitted them to his august presence. 
King Kamrasi received our heroes much as Mtesa had 
done before him, trying bravado first and condescension 
afterwards. He wanted a double-bladed knife belonging 
to Grant, and then a chronometer worth £50. Both of 
course had to be given to him ; but after these concessions 
Speke stood firm, met threats by -threats, and finally so 
alarmed the " harsh, suspicious, pitiless creature " as to 
what would happen to him if harm befell a white man, that 
permission to depart was obtained. A message was sent 
by Bombay to the well-known ivory trader Petherick, 
announcing the advance northwards of the expedition, and 



180 Home via the Nile and Gondokoro. 



on the 9th November, some four months after the entrance 
into Unyoro, the Nile journey was resumed. 

Dropping down the Kafu, a small tributary of the Nile, 
in a canoe, our heroes almost immediately entered what 
they at first took to be a long lake, but soon discovered 
to be the parent stream. Now paddling between reeds 
and rushes, now crossing long stretches of jungle on foot, 
the homeward explorers came, on the 19th November, to 
the Karuma Falls (N. lat. 2° 15', E. long. 32° 30% beyond 
which the march was through the now well-known district 
of Madi. On the loth February, 1863, Gondokoro was 
entered, and the meeting described in our Heroes of 
Discovery in North Africa took place between Speke 
and Grant and Baker. 

We already know with what noble generosity the weary 
travellers supplied Baker with all the information in their 
power, telling him of the reports of other lakes near their 
N'yanza, of bends in the Nile which they had been unable 
themselves to follow, &c, &c. We need, therefore, only 
add that, after an interesting interview with Petherick, 
then on his way to look for them on the eastern bank of 
the Nile, Speke and Grant returned to England by way of 
Khartoum and Alexandria, arriving safely in London, after 
a tour extending over twenty-eight months. 

As our readers will doubtless have noticed, neither 
Burton, Speke, nor Grant approached in any of their 
journeys the snow-capped mountains, the discovery of 
which led to the sending out of the two expeditions whose 
fortunes we have been following. This omission, the result 
of the necessity of making for the lakes with as little delay 
as possible, was atoned for in 1861 by the German Baron 
Von der Decken, who, after several unsuccessful attempts 



Ascent of the Kilimanjaro. 181 



to reach the scene of Eoscher's death, turned his attention 
northwards, and twice tried to reach the summit of Kili- 
manjaro. 

On the first occasion Von der Decken was accompanied 
by the English geologist Thornton, and together the two 
made the ascent, through dense forest and over rocky 
debris, to a height of 8000 feet. Here they were deserted 
by their guide, who did not like the uncanny appearance 
of the snow then approached, and though every effort was 
made to get on without him, the explorers were compelled 
to turn back. After many a narrow escape, they reached 
Mombaz in safety, and a little later Von der Decken 
returned to Kilimanjaro, this time with Dr. Kersten as 
his companion. 

A long detour, on account of the raging of the cattle plague 
in the districts east of the mountain, was succeeded by an 
arduous climb from the west, but again the attempt to 
reach the summit had to be abandoned, for at a height of 
14,000 feet a violent snowstorm overtook the party, the 
terrified natives took to their heels, and the Germans were 
reluctantly obliged to follow them, lingering, however, long 
enough by the way to determine the volcanic character of 
the mountain, and to ascertain its total height to be about 
20,000 feet above the sea-level. 

Convinced of the uselessness of any further efforts in the 
same direction, Von der Decken now returned to Europe ; 
and having himself superintended the building of a steam- 
boat for river navigation, made his way to the east coast of 
Africa, with the intention of exploring the Gallas country, 
of which very little is as yet known. Starting from Zan- 
zibar, he reached the mouth of the Juba or Jubb river 
(S. lat. 0° 8', E. long. 42° 33') in safety, and ascended it as 



182 



Murder of Von der Decken. 



far as the village of Bardera (N. lat 0° 52', E. long. 42° 28'), 
the natives fleeing in terror at the approach of the awful 
sea-monster, which they imagined the steamer to be. 

Beyond Bardera the navigation of the river became 
dangerous, and the vessel presently struck upon a rock 
concealed beneath some rapids. All efforts to get her off 
proved unavailing. Von der Decken and his crew 
were compelled to land and enter Bardera, where 
they were received with evident suspicion by the chief. 
No white men had ever before been seen in the land, and 
there was no knowing what their intentions might be ; but 
they could mean no good, stealing into the country up 
the river as they had done. It would be best to be on the 
safe side, and put them out of the way. So reasoned the 
ignorant blacks, and the natives forming Von der Decken's 
escort, seeing how things were likely to turn out, deserted 
their master, first stealing his weapons. It is believed that 
the whole party of Europeans were murdered and their 
bodies thrown into the river, but no details of their tragic 
fate have ever come to hand. 

Kilimanjaro was ascended by the English missionary 
New as far as the snow-line in 1871, and his account of 
what he saw fully confirmed the descriptions given by Von 
der Decken, Thornton, and Kersten. New astonished his 
native companions, who could not be induced to go with 
him on the last stage of his journey, by bringing back a 
large piece of snow as hard as a stone in his hand. On 
his return journey to the coast, New discovered the crater- 
lake of Jala on the south-east of the great mountain, and 
two years later he returned to the same neighbourhood ; 
but he was received with hostility by the natives, and died 
of exhaustion in his attempt to leave the country. Ten 



Ascent of Kilimanjaro. 183 



years later, Mr. Joseph Thomson (see Chap. XII.) 
visited Kilimanjaro, and a little later Mr. H. H. Johnston 
ascended it to a considerable distance. It was reserved, 
however, to Dr. Meyer, in October, 1889, to climb to the 
summit of Kibo, and nearly to the top of Ki-Mawensi. 

CHAPTEE VII. 

Livingstone's second journey, and the work of 
karl mauch. 

Arrival at the Mouth of the Zambesi — The Ma-Robert — War between the 
Half-castes and the Portuguese— At Sena with Senhor Ferrao — Living- 
stone's old Makololo Servants — Their Sufferings in his Absence — Ex- 
cursion to Kebrabasa— First Visit to Manganja Land — Chief Chibisa — 
On Foot to Lake Shirwa — Bad Behaviour of the Ma-Robert — Up the 
Shire again, and Discovery of Lake Nyassa — Back to Tete, and down to 
the Kongone with the Ma-Robert — Journey to Makololo Land— Rescue 
of Baldwin at the Victoria Falls — News of Sekeletu's Leprosy, and the 
Misery of his People — Arrival at Sesheke — Interview with Sekeletu — 
His Lady-Doctor superseded by Kirk and Livingstone — A Month at 
Sesheke — News of the Sufferings of Missionaries — Over the Rapids, and 
Narrow Escapes — On Foot to Tete — The Last of the Ma-Robert— 
Arrival of Pioneer and of Bishop Mackenzie — Trip up the Rovuma — 
Return to the Shire, and up that River with the Mission Party — 
Horrors of Slave-trade, and Rescue of Slaves — A Struggle with 
Ajawa — Farewell to Bishop Mackenzie — Fugitives in the Papyrus on a 
Lake — Arrival of Mrs. Livingstone and other Ladies — Sad Death of 
Bishop Mackenzie — Death of Mrs. Livingstone — The Lady Nyassa — 
Her Launch — Her Trip up the Shire —Sudden Recall of Expedition — 
Return to Mouth of the Zambesi — Home via Mozambique, Zanzibar, 
and Bombay — Mauch and his Discovery of Gold Fields and Mines near 
Sofala — Mohr and Baines. 

THE cordial reception he had almost everywhere met 
with on his great journey from sea to sea, and the 
apparent eagerness of the natives of the inland districts to 
trade with the settlers on the coast, led Livingstone to hope 



184 



Up the Kongone. 



that in the new venture now to be undertaken he would 
be able, without any great difficulty, to open permanent 
commercial relations between African chiefs and Europe. 
With this end in view, he proposed thoroughly surveying 
the Zambesi, with its mouths and tributaries, for, from 
what he had already seen of that great river, he believed 
it to be the best and most natural " highway for commerce 
and Christianity to pass into the vast interior of Africa." 

The new expedition consisted of Dr. Livingstone as 
leader ; his brother, Mr. Charles Livingstone ; Dr. Kirk, a 
well-known botanist ; Mr. Thornton, the young geologist 
who was Von der Decken's companion in his first ascent 
of Kilimanjaro, and numerous others of lesser note. 
Provided with a boat for river navigation — which was sent 
from England in pieces, and put together at the mouth of 
the Zambesi — and all other requisites of success, the party 
arrived off the east coast, in her Majesty's colonial steamer 
Pearl, in May, 1858, and having carefully examined the 
four mouths of the Zambesi, known as the Milambe, the 
Luabo, the Timbwe, and the Kongone, decided on the last- 
named as the best for their purpose. 

The Pearl proceeded rapidly up the Kongone, towing 
the Ma-Kobert, as the steam launch was called, that being 
the native name for Mrs. Livingstone, signifying mother of 
Eobert, her eldest son ; and after a pleasant voyage between 
banks lined with huge ferns, palm bushes, wild date, 
screw and other palms, &c, cast anchor near the island of 
Simbo, where the Doto stream branches off on the right 
and the Chinde on the left. 

Here the members of the expedition landed, and the 
Pearl returned to the coast. Leaving a few of their 
assistants on the island to guard the heavy luggage, the 



Matakenya' s Atrocities. 185 



country being then in a state of war, the two Livingstones, 
Kirk, and Thornton ascended the river as far as Mazaro, 
at the mouth of a narrow creek communicating with the 
Quilimane river, where they had their first foretaste of the 
horrors of the conflict going on between the Portuguese 
and a certain Mariano or Matakenya, a half-caste slave- 
hunter, who had long been in the habit of " sending out 
armed parties on slave-hunting forays among the helpless 
tribes on the north-east, and carrying down his kidnapped 
victims in chains to Quilimane," where they were sold by 
a brother-in-law there resident, and shipped for Bourbon. 

Whilst Matakenya — whose name means " trembling," and 
expresses the native horror of his doings — restricted himself 
to the oppression of poor natives at a distance, no parti- 
cular notice was taken of him ; but when, emboldened by 
impunity, his men began to molest the tribes subject to 
the Portuguese, the latter interfered, and sent an armed 
force against him. 

A gentleman of high standing at Mazaro told Living- 
stone that Matakenya was in the habit of spearing his 
victims with his own hands, that it was no uncommon 
event for a meal to be broken in upon by a slave rushing into 
the dining-room with one of the oppressor's men behind 
him, spear in hand, to murder him, and that Matakenya 
had once killed forty poor wretches placed in a row before 
him. Our hero was at first unable to credit these state- 
ments, but, as we shall see, the awful scenes subsequently 
witnessed by himself convinced him that no ferocity, no 
bloodthirstiness, can be exceeded by that of a slave-hunter 
by profession, and that human chattels are treated by their 
owners with a reckless cruelty to which no other animals 
of value are ever subjected, 
p — (s.A.j 



186 Rescue of a Portuguese Governor. 

On the 15 th June, Livingstone and his comrades were 
within hearing of a fight between the Portuguese and the 
''rebels," and on landing opposite to Shapunga to greet 
some old friends, the doctor 'found himself in the midst of 
mutilated bodies, and surrounded by all the horrible sights 
and sounds connected with recent carnage. The few 
survivors of the people he had known under circumstances 
so different gathered about him, glad to welcome him again, 
and he was requested to take the Portuguese governor, who 
was very ill of fever, across to Shapunga. 

No sooner had he given his consent than the battle 
recommenced, and with balls whistling about his ears he 
"dragged his Excellency ," a very tall and heavy man, 
down to the ship. Once on board, and under skilful 
treatment, the poor man quickly recovered his health, and 
was able to return to Quilimane, but it is said that he 
never forgave the colonel in attendance for the strong 
remedies which were administered to him. He was a 
pupil of Easpail, and felt it a crime to get well by any 
other method than his. We quote this anecdote as one 
out of many examples of the absurd prejudices against 
medicine prevalent alike amongst Portuguese settlers, half- 
castes, and natives in this part of Africa, prejudices which 
again and again prevented Livingstone from saving life. 

Leaving Shapunga on the 17th August, 1858, our party 
started up stream for Tete, finding the navigation very 
difficult, owing partly to the number of islands to be 
avoided, and partly to the vagaries of their black pilot 
John Scissors, who sometimes took the wrong channel, 
running the Ma-Eobert aground. "Nothing abashed," 
says Livingstone, "by these little accidents, he would 
exclaim in an aggrieved tone. - This is not the path; it is 



Vagaries of the Ma-Robert. 



187 



back yonder.' ' Then why didn't you go yonder at first V 
growled the Kroomen, who had been engaged as sailors, 
and had the work of getting the vessel off ; at which 
demonstration of displeasure poor Scissors would begin to 
tremble, and cry, ' These men scold me so, I am ready to 
run away.' " 

From the first the Ma-Kobert behaved so badly, owing 
to various faults in her construction, that Livingstone 
ironically re-christened her the " Asthmatic.'' The heavily- 
laden country canoes could almost keep up with her, the 
little ones shot by her, and with regret our hero was 
compelled to acknowledge that steam was to him " no 
labour-saving power, and boats, or even canoes, would have 
done for the expedition all that it did, with half the toil 
and expense." 

Landing to wood at Shamoara, just below the confluence 
of the Shire (about S. lat. 17° 31', E. long. 35° 3'), an im- 
portant tributary of the Zambesi, with which we shall 
presently become well acquainted, the Englishmen were 
visited by Bonga, brother of Matakenya, and some of his 
principal followers, who were all perfectly friendly, though 
aware of the service done by the explorers to their enemies 
in the person of the governor of Mazaro. Bonga, when told 
of the object of the expedition, declared that no hindrance 
should be suffered from his people in so good a work, and 
proved that these were no idle words by sending down a 
present of rice, two sheep, and a quantity of firewood. The 
Portuguese, on the other hand, showed themselves suspi- 
cious of the intruders, and cross-questioned their pilot as 
to whether they had sold any powder to the enemy ; but 
in spite of all difficulties our hero managed to remain on 
good terms with both parties. 



188 



Meeting with old Servants, 



Unable to take the Ma-Eobert up the shoal-channel on 
which Sena, the next halting-place, stands, anchor was cast 
at a small native hamlet called Nyaruka, and the English- 
men walked across country in Indian file along a narrow 
winding footpath, through gardens and patches of wood, 
meeting many natives on the road, the men armed with 
spears, bows and arrows, or old Tower muskets ; the 
women carrying short-handled hoes, with which they were 
going to work in the gardens. 

Arrived at Sena, a tumble-down Portuguese settlement, 
" surrounded by a stockade of living trees to protect its 
inhabitants from their troublesome and rebellious neigh- 
bours," the party were most hospitably received by the 
now celebrated Senhor Ferrao, who has won the love of 
the natives by his noble generosity, feeding them in 
famine, ministering to them in sickness, and exercising no 
further right over his slaves than that of a kind of patri- 
archal chief, on whom they lean as on a father. 

Cheered by their halt in what we may call this oasis of 
Christian love in the very heart of the slave district, our 
heroes pressed on up stream with fresh energy, and cast 
anchor off Tete on the 8th September, 1858. Dr. Living- 
stone at once went on shore in a boat, for it was here he 
had left many of his old Makololo servants on his former 
journey. No sooner did the poor fellows recognise him 
than they rushed to the waters edge, manifesting the 
greatest joy at seeing him again. " Some/' to quote from 
his own narrative, " were hastening to embrace him, but 
others cried out, ' Don't touch him ; you will spoil his 
new clothes/ " 

The headmen went on board, and silently listened to the 
narrative of Sekwebu's death, who, it will be remembered, 



Excursion to Kebrabasa. 



189 



committed suicide off Mauritius. " Men die in any 
country/' they remarked when every detail had been told ; 
they themselves had lost thirty of their comrades from 
small-pox ; the people of Tete had envied them because in 
the first year none of their party had died, and in their 
jealous hate they had bewitched them. That was how the 
thirty had come by their deaths. Six others were gone 
into the great silence too. They had become tired of 
cutting firewood at Tete, tired of waiting for their master, 
' their dear Livingstone/ to come back, so they had set out 
to dance before some of the neighbouring chiefs, and one 
of those chiefs had murdered them. Our hearts are sore 
for them/' added their survivors ; " we would be glad if 
vengeance could be taken for them." That of course was 
impossible, but Livingstone comforted them as best he 
could, and promised to see them safely back in their own 
country. 

This he subsequently did at the cost of much valuable 
time and money, but his first care on his arrival at Tete 
was to make an excursion to the Kebrabasa rapids, formed 
by the passing of the Zambesi through a lofty range of 
mountains of that name. "A narrow, rough, and rocky 
dell of about a quarter of a mile in breadth, over which 
large masses of rock are huddled together in indescribable 
confusion," is the only channel for the whole volume of 
the water, and the result is a scene second only in beauty 
to the Victoria Falls. 

On his later visit to Kebrabasa, with Dr. Kirk as his 
companion, Livingstone discovered a beautiful cataract, 
known as Morumbwe, at the cost of a climb up an almost 
perpendicular mountain under a burning sun, the faithful 
Makololo who had constituted themselves his escort mur- 



190 



Up the Shire. 



muring that they had always thought their master had a 
heart, but now they believed he had none. Finding him 
immovable in his determination to proceed, they turned to 
Dr. Kirk and begged him to make his companion go back, 
for it was evident he was gone mad, else why did he 
attempt to go where no living foot could tread ? 

To this appeal Dr. Kirk, who understood not a word, 
made no reply, and Livingstone naively informs us that he, 
who did understand, took care not to enlighten him. The 
discovery made, he adds, was more than sufficient reward 
for the labour undergone, and having slept for the night at 
a well in a rock on the north-west side of the mountain called 
Chipereziwa, rising perpendicularly above the Zambesi, the 
hardy explorers returned to Tete, and after some few 
interesting but unimportant excursions in its neighbour- 
hood, the whole party started on a first trip up the 
Shire. 

It was now early in January, 1859, and considerable 
quantities of duckweed floated down the river for the first 
twenty-five miles, though not enough seriously to impede 
navigation. Entering the Manganja country, peopled, 
according to the Portuguese of Tete, by bloodthirsty 
savages, a sharp look-out was kept on either side of the 
little vessel, and as the first villages were approached the 
natives collected in large numbers, armed with bows and 
poisoned arrows. No actual hostilities were offered, how- 
ever, until the village of a chief named Tingane was 
reached, when a party of five hundred savages collected on 
the river banks, and ordered the Ma-Eobert to stop. 

Dr. Livingstone landed at once, and in an interview 
with Tingane, of which we give an illustration, explained 
that he and his companions were English, that they had 




INTERVIEW WITH A MANGANJA CHIEF, 



Down the Shire. 



191 



come neither to take slaves nor to fight, but only to open 
a path by which their countrymen might follow to pur- 
chase cotton, or whatever else they might have to sell, 
except slaves. 

To our hero's surprise, Tingane responded to this speech 
in a friendly manner. The chief, long notorious as being 
a barrier to all intercourse between the Portuguese and 
natives further inland, allowing none to pass him either 
way, gave the expedition permission to proceed, and 
appeared fully to recognise the advantages which its 
success would bring to his country. Probably the presence 
of the steamer, a machine with unknown powers of good 
and evil, contributed to this result, but however that may 
be, Livingstone lost no time in profiting by Tingane's 
friendliness, and pushing up stream, the river becoming 
narrower as he advanced, he came, one hundred miles 
further, in S. lat. 15° 55", to a magnificent cataract, which he 
named the Murchison Falls, after his friend Sir Eoderick. 

Here the progress of the steamer was stopped, and it 
was decided to return to Tete, first paving the way for a 
new expedition by sending presents and messages to two 
Manganja chiefs. The progress down stream was rapid. 
The hippopotami, with which the Shire abounded, says 
Livingstone, " never made a mistake, but got out of our 
way. The crocodiles, not so wise, sometimes rushed with 
great velocity at us, thinking we were some huge animal 
swimming. They kept about a foot from the surface, but 
made three well-defined ripples from the feet and body ; 
. . . raising the head out of the water when only a few 
yards from the expected feast, down they went to the 
bottom without touching the boat.' , 

In the middle of March of the same year (1859) a second 



192 Discovery of Lake Shirwa* 



trip was made up the Shire, this time resulting in the 
discovery of Lake Shirwa (S. lat. 15°, E. long. 35° 40'). 
Friendly relations were opened, to begin with, with 
Chibisa, chief of a village ten miles below the cataracts, 
and, leaving their vessel under his care, Drs. Livingstone 
and Kirk, attended by a number of Makololo, started on 
foot in the direction of the lake. 

The people of the districts traversed were anything but 
friendly, and some of the guides tried to mislead them. 
Masakasa, a Makololo headman, overheard certain remarks 
betraying their plots, and fixing upon one man, who it 
afterwards turned out was innocent of everything but 
ignorance, said to Dr. Livingstone, " That fellow is bad ; 
he is taking us into mischief. My spear is sharp ; . . . 
shall I cast him into the long grass ?" 

Of course our hero declined to sanction assassination, 
but presently agreed with Kirk to dispense with guides 
altogether, and push on alone. In carrying out this deter- 
mination they received assistance from a very unexpected 
quarter, none other than the madmen of the different 
villages entered. The poor fellows, evidently imagining 
the explorers to belong to their own unhappy condition, 
sympathised with them, and guided them faithfully from 
place to place as no sane men would have done. 

On the 18th April the lake was reached, and turned out 
to be a large mass of bitter water, abounding in hippopo- 
tami, crocodiles, leeches, and fish. Lake Shirwa is of oval 
shape, tapering to the north, and is estimated to be about 
sixty miles long, and to vary in breadth from ten to twenty- 
three miles. It is 1800 feet above the sea-level, is sur- 
rounded by rising ground, and has several small rivers 
flowing into it on the south and west. Near the eastern 



Cruelty to an Elephant 193 

shore rises a lofty mountain range called Milanje, and on 
the west stands Mount Zomba, 7000 feet high. 

Satisfied with having verified native statements as to 
the existence of Lake Shirwa, or Tamandua, as it is some- 
times called, the explorers now returned to Tete, and took 
the steamer down to Mazaro for the repairs she sadly 
needed. About the middle of August, however, we find 
them again on their way up the Shire, this time intending 
to make a long journey on foot to the north of Lake 
Shirwa, with a view to the fixing the position of Lake 
Nyassa. 

On this trip the continual leaking of the Ma-Kobert 
gave our heroes much trouble and anxiety, and a little 
beyond the village of Mboma (S. lat. 16° 56' 30") the 
danger became really serious. The cabin floor was always 
wet ; the water had to be mopped up again and again every 
day, sanctioning the native idea that Englishmen are 
amphibious, and live in or out of the water just as the 
humour takes them. Fortunately no accident of import- 
ance happened to the crazy craft. Tingane's village was 
passed in safety, and in the so-called Elephant Marsh 
beyond it a fine young elephant was caught alive as he 
was scudding up the river bank after his retreating 
mother. 

When seized, the poor beast gave a terrible scream, and 
to avoid an attack from his enraged parent, his captors 
steamed off, dragging him through the water by his trunk. 
Presently, to Livingstone's great regret, Monga, a Makololo 
elephant-hunter, suddenly rushed forward and drew his 
knife across the extended proboscis, "in a sort of frenzy 
peculiar to the chase." The wound was at once skilfully 
sewn up, and the young animal soon became quite tame, 



194 In the Manganja Highlands. 

but unfortunately his breathing prevented the cut from 
healing, and he died a few days afterwards from loss of 
blood. Had he survived to be brought home, he would 
have been the first African elephant seen in England. 

On the 25th August anchor was cast opposite Chibisa's 
village, and in the absence of the chief, who had gone with 
the greater part of his people to live near the Zambesi, the 
headman showed the party every civility, promising guides, 
provisions, &c. On the 28th it was decided to leave the 
vessel for the discovery of Lake Nyassa, and, escorted by 
thirty-six Makololo and two Manganja guides, our heroes 
started in a north-easterly direction. 

The Manganja valley, rich in cotton and palm trees, and 
haunted by thousands of birds, including red and yellow 
weavers, black and white spur geese, kites, vultures, &c., 
&c, was first traversed, and beyond it the ascent of the 
hills was begun, the vegetation gradually becoming less 
dense, bamboos and euphorbia being the principal trees. 

The upper terrace of the Manganja highlands, some 
3000 feet above the sea-level, was reached after an arduous 
climb, and a week's journey across a rocky plateau in a 
northerly direction was succeeded by the descent into the 
Upper Shire valley, a wonderfully fertile district, sup- 
porting a large population, and lying 1200 feet above the 
sea-level. Part of this favoured valley was under the rule 
of a female chief named Nyango, and in her dominions, 
says Livingstone, women ranked higher and received more 
respectful treatment than their sisters on the hills. 

As an instance of this difference, he tells us how, when 
one of the hill chiefs, Mongazi by name, called his wife to 
take charge of a present brought for him by the white 
man, " she dropped on her knees, clapping her hands in 



Manganja Etiquette. 



195 



reverence both before and after receiving the present from 
his lordly hands;" whereas in Nyango's country the 
husbands consulted their wives before concluding a 
bargain, and seemed to respect their opinions. On entering 
a Manganja village, the explorers always proceeded, as is 
the custom for strangers, to the Baolo or spreading-place, 
generally an open space of some twenty or thirty yards in 
extent, beneath a banyan tree. Mats of split reeds or 
bamboo were spread for their accommodation, and, sitting 
down, the white men left the guides to explain to the 
villagers whence they came, whither they were going, &c. 

This information was then carried to the chief, who, " if 
a sensible man, came at once to receive his guests ; and if 
he happened to be timid and suspicious, waited till he had 
used divination, and his warriors had time to come in 
from the outlying hamlets." On the arrival of the chief, 
the people begin to clap their hands, and continue to do so 
till he sits down opposite his visitors. The guides then 
squat themselves between the two parties, facing the chief, 
who stares fixedly at them, and they at him. A single 
word is at last uttered by the chief, such as Ambuiatu (our 
Father) or Moio (life), and all again clap their hands. 
A second word is followed by two claps, a third by three, 
after which " all rise, lean forward with measured clap, and 
sit down again with clap, clap, clap, fainter and still fainter, 
till the last dies away or is brought to an end by a smart 
loud clap from the chief." 

The guides then repeat the information already given to 
the people to the chief, conversation is opened with the 
white men by means of interpreters, presents are cere- 
moniously exchanged, and at last food, such as meal, 
maize, fowls, &c, is brought for sale. 



196 Native Woman devoured by a Crocodile. 

Beyond the cataracts already mentioned, the banks of 
the Shire, now dwindled into a rivulet, were followed, 
and on arriving at the village of a chief named Muana- 
Moesi, really only a day's march from the Lake Nyassa, 
the explorers were told that no sheet of water existed any- 
where near, but that the river Shire stretched on for " two 
months" more, and then came out between perpendicular 
rocks which towered almost up to the skies. 

The Makololo looked very blank at this news, and cried, 
" Let us go back to the ship ; it is no use trying to find 
the lake." " No, no/' answered Dr. Livingstone ; " we 
shall go and see these wonderful rocks at any rate." 
" And when you see them, you will just want to see some- 
thing else," was the rejoinder ; an answer showing how well 
his men had learnt to know the great explorer's indomitable 
energies. Further inquiries in this instance resulted in 
an admission that there was a lake not many miles off, 
and it was determined to start for it early next day. 

Preparations for the night were already begun, and the 
four Englishmen were congratulating themselves on the 
near approach to success, when a " wild sad cry arose from 
the river, followed by the shrieking of women." The 
chief's principal wife had been carried off by a crocodile 
when bathing. The Makololo rushed to the bank to try 
and rescue her, but it was too late ; she was gone. This 
terrible accident was associated with the visit of the white 
men ; they were looked upon with awe ; all the males fled 
at their approach, and the women gazed at them in awe- 
struck silence, their dusky cheeks blanched with fear. 

The start for the lake the next morning was made under 
gloomy auspices, and it was with something of foreboding 
that the party left Muana's village behind them, uncheered 



Discovery of Lake JVyassa. 197 



by any good wishes from their host, and with nothing to 
guide them in their search but their own instinct. 

All went well, however, and a little before noon on the 
10th September, 1859, our heroes stood at last upon the 
shores of the southern extremity of Lake Nyassa, two 
months before Dr. Eoscher reached its northern end, when, 
as we have seen, he heard that rumour of white men in 
the south which enticed him to his death. 

The term Nyassa, like that of N'yanza, in use further 
north, turned out to be synonymous with lake, but it has 
been retained on our maps instead of its more distinctive 
name of Nyinyesi, or stars, probably given to it by the 
natives in consequence of its ray-like southern arms. Dr. 
Livingstone describes it as having something of the boot- 
shape of Italy, and estimates its length at 210 and its 
breadth at 26 miles. The land round it is mostly low and 
marshy, but at about eight or ten miles distance on the 
east rise several ranges of wooded granite hills. Its waters 
abound in fish, villages dot its shores, and their inhabitants 
are a hardy, industrious set of people. 

The Shire issues from Lake Nyassa in S. lat. 14° 28', 
and joins the Zambesi after a course of 370 miles, of which 
thirty-five are too much obstructed by cataracts for even 
canoe-navigation to be practicable. This picturesque river 
flows through the Shire Highlands, long the scene of good 
work by members of the Church of Scotland and English 
Universities Missions. Of late years its basin has been 
included in the sphere of action of the African Lakes 
Company, and was annexed by England in 1889. 

The chief of the village near the source of the Shire, an 
old man named Mosanka, hearing that the four white 
men were sitting under a tree, came and invited them into 



198 



Slave Dealers. 



his domain, and, taking them to a splendid banyan tree, 
urged them to make themselves at home beneath it. He 
then sent them a goat and a basket of meal, " to comfort 
their hearts/' and when they had refreshed themselves, he 
informed them that a large party of slave-hunters, led by 
Arabs, was encamped close by. They had been up to 
Cazembe's country on the north the previous year, and 
were now returning south with a good supply of slaves, 
ivory, and malachite. 

A little later some of the leaders came over to call on 
the visitors, who found them a " villainous-looking lot," 
Livingstone adding in his journal, " but probably they 
thought the same of us, for they offered us several young 
children for sale." When told that the white men were 
English, they seemed both annoyed and frightened, and 
made off as quickly as they could. We are glad to be 
able to add that some of these very men were subsequently 
caught by Her Majesty's ship Lynx, when escaping with 
their prey on a dhow. 

Mosanka's village is set down in one of the great 
slave paths from the interior, and Livingstone would 
gladly have released some of the many unhappy victims 
he saw being led along in the so-called slave-sticks, long 
poles with two arms at one end, between which the head 
of the captive is fixed. Indeed our hero's Makololo, who 
never hold slaves, several times reproached him for his 
inhumanity. " Ah, you call us bad," they said ; " but are 
we yellow-hearted, like these fellows ? Why won't you 
let us choke them ?" 

" To liberate and leave them," adds Livingstone, " would, 
however, have done little good, and to take them on and 
feed them, in addition to his own men, was impossible. 



The Chicova Plains, 



199 



Later, as we shall see, he could no longer resist inter- 
ference, but now he was compelled to shut his eyes and 
ears to much that was painful The Manganja chiefs, it 
seemed, sold their own people, though they were rather 
ashamed of the fact being known, volunteering the state- 
ment, " We do not sell many, only those who have com- 
mitted crimes." In many villages trade was impossible to 
the explorers, for there was nothing hut human flesh with 
which the natives could pay for foreign goods. 

After a somewhat disheartening land journey, occupying 
forty-five days, the explorers returned to the ship, and 
whilst the two Livingstones steamed down the Shire, Dr. 
Kirk and Mr. Eae, the engineer, returned to Tete over- 
land, accomplishing the journey without difficulty. A 
little later the Ma-Eobert was taken down to the Kongone 
for further repairs, &c, and in May we find Dr. Living- 
stone preparing for a journey to the Makololo country, to 
take his faithful servants home. 

The start was made on the 15th, and, following r the 
Zambesi as far as the Kebrabasa rapids already mentioned, 
the party emerged from the hills of the same name in the 
Chicova plains on the 7th of June. Here the Zambesi 
suddenly expands and becomes as wide as at Tete, so that 
navigation is impeded but for a short distance. 

The plains of Chicova were haunted at night by so many 
lions that great precautions were necessary to ensure the 
safety of the camp. The white men were always placed in 
the centre, and the natives arranged themselves in pic- 
turesque style all round, forming a kind of body-guard, 
whilst a huge circle of fire enclosed the whole body of 
travellers. 

The chief of the plain, Chitora by name, who had never 

Q — (S.A.) 



200 Native Dread of White Men. 



before seen white men, rejoiced that he hai been spared to 
do so, and sent them presents of food and drink, because 
he said " he did not wish them to sleep hungry ; he had 
heard of the doctor when he passed down, and had a 
great desire to see and converse with him, but he was 
a child then, and could not speak in the presence of great 
men." 

The people of the villages, however, were less eager in 
their attentions, and Livingstone remarks that there must 
be something frightfully repulsive in the appearance of 
Europeans to the unsophisticated blacks, for many of those 
who had never before seen any but their own countrymen 
would take to their heels at the approach of himself or his 
companions in an agony of terror. This terror is even 
sometimes communicated to the brute creation, " dogs 
turning tail and scouring off in dismay, and hens aban- 
doning their chickens, flying screaming to the tops of the 
houses." A little familiarity with the English was, how- 
ever, always enough to convert this dread into affectionate 
regard. 

Crossing the rivulet Nyamatarara, our heroes left the 
Ohicova plains behind them, and on the 20th June 
encamped on the spot where Dr. Livingstone was menaced 
by the chief M'pende on his journey from the west to 
the east coast of Africa. On the present occasion the 
reception was everything that could be wished. First 
came three of the chiefs counsellors, and then the chief 
himself, the latter bringing a goat, a basket of maize, and 
one of vetches, "as presents for his friends;" whilst the 
headman, Chilonda of Nyamnesa, living a little further on, 
sent a message to the effect that " he regretted not having 
lent the white man canoes on his former visit. He had 



Encotinter with a Rhinoceros, 201 



been absent, and his children were to blame for not telling 
him when the doctor passed ; he did not refuse the canoes." 

Beyond M'pende's village Livingstone's journey led him 
chiefly over old ground, and all went well until the 
Mburama or Mohango Pass was reached, where Dr. Kirk 
was taken seriously ill, and a delay of two days ensued. 
The botanist had long been suffering from intermittent 
fever, and in halting by the water he suddenly became 
blind, and unable to stand from faintness. " The men 
with great alacrity prepared a grassy bed," and on it the 
patient was laid, his three white comrades " watching 
him with the sad forebodings only those who have tended 
the sick in a wild country can realise but on the third day 
he surprised them by sitting up and declaring himself 
ready to proceed. He was assisted on to a donkey, and on 
the sixth day he could march as well as any of the party. 

Pressing on along the Zambesi, and with " zigzags " of 
fire, the result of grass-burning on the hills, running 
parallel with their course, the explorers had a narrow 
escape on the 6th June, when traversing a dense thorn 
jungle. In cutting their path step by step they became 
separated from each other, and " a rhinoceros with angry 
snort dashed at Dr. Livingstone as he stooped to pick up 
a specimen of the wild fruit morala but, strange to say, 
she " stopped stock-still when less than her own length 
distant, and gave him time to escape." As he was running 
off, however, a branch of a tree caught his watch chain and 
dragged out his watch. Turning half round to secure it, 
he saw the rhinoceros, with a young one beside her, 
standing stock-still, "as if arrested in the middle of her 
charge by an unseen hand." When about fifty yards off, 
Livingstone shouted to his comrades, whom he knew to be 



202 



Rescue of Baldwin. 



within hearing, though out of sight, "Look out there!" 
and his enemy, snorting loudly, rushed off in the opposite 
direction. 

Meanwhile, Charles Livingstone had surprised a troop 
of wild dogs wrangling over the remains of a buffalo they 
had dragged down and nearly devoured, and only escaped 
sharing its fate by beating a retreat, whilst Dr. Kirk 
brought down a fine eland later in the day. The jungle 
safely traversed, and the open country entered, the villages 
of old friends were reached one after another, and on the 
9th August, 1860, we find Dr. Livingstone again at the 
Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, now sharing with his fellow- 
countrymen his delight in the glorious scene they present. 

At the village of chief Mashotlane, near the Falls, the 
travellers found an Englishman named Baldwin held a 
kind of prisoner at large, and, rescuing him from his 
captivity enabled him to regain his waggon two days' 
distance off. Baldwin, having heard of Livingstone's dis- 
covery of the marvellous cataract, had managed to reach 
it from Natal, guided by his pocket compass alone. " He 
had called on Mashotlane to ferry him over to the north 
side of the river, and when nearly over he took a bath by 
jumping in and swimming ashore," thus greatly incensing 
the native chief, who said, " If he had been devoured by 
one of the crocodiles which abound here, the English would 
have blamed us for his death. He nearly inflicted a great 
injury upon us ; therefore he must pay a fine." As poor 
Baldwin had nothing with him to meet this demand, he 
would probably long have languished in exile but for the 
timely arrival of our heroes. 

Marching up the river, the Lekone was crossed at its 
junction with the Zambesi, and on the 13th a party was 



Sekeletu's Leprosy. 



203 



met, sent by our old acquaintance Sekeletu to greet the 
doctor, and ask him, not, as he expected, again to make 
Sesheke his home, but to say what the price of a horse 
ought to be. Livingstone declined to give an opinion, and 
the envoys expressed themselves greatly disappointed, for 
if he would have spoken the matter would have been 
settled, as the Griquas, with whom a sale was being nego- 
tiated, would have accepted his opinion as final. 

The envoys dismissed, the camp was pitched opposite 
the mouth of the Ohobe, and a Makololo headman named 
Mokompa sent a liberal present, and two canoes to take 
the white men up to Sesheke, but accompanied by a 
message that he feared his tribe was breaking up. Seke- 
letu had the leprosy; he did not know what was to 
become of his people. 

The coldness of the unhappy Makololo chief was now 
explained; the princely warrior, whom Livingstone had 
left in the enjoyment of all the vigour of youth, was struck 
down by a foul disease, and had shut himself up to die 
alone. His dreams of a new era for his people were over. 
Instead of encouraging missionaries to settle in his country, 
instead of inviting traders from the east and from the 
west to bring their goods to his capital, he must end his 
days in a self-imposed prison. He would not risk the 
spread of his complaint amongst his children, and there is 
something infinitely touching in his sending yet another 
message to the doctor to say that he only should come to 
him, and to ask him again about the price of the horse. 
It was evident that he could not bear to allude directly to 
the terrible trouble which had overtaken him. 

On the 18th, Livingstone and his party entered Sesheke, 
or rather passed the ruins of the former to go to its substi- 



204 Troubles in Makololo Land. 



tute, built on the same side of the river a quarter of a 
mile higher up, the former Sesheke having been levelled 
to the ground after the execution of the headman Moriant- 
siane for bewitching the chief with leprosy. Sekeletu was 
on the right bank, near a number of temporary huts, and a 
man hailed our heroes on the chief's behalf, and requested 
them to rest under the old kotla, or public meeting-place 
tree. 

A young Makololo then crossed over the river to receive 
the chief's orders, and soon returned with a message to the 
headman of the new town, to the effect that an ox was to 
be slain for the white men. This was duly done, and 
never, they tell us, did they taste better meat, for on their 
arrival at Sesheke they had been entirely out of food. 

The next day, the 19th July, visitors poured in to see 
Dr. Livingstone, and many of them who had been in 
trouble since his previous visit were much affected in the 
first interview. One and all were in low spirits. "A 
severe drought had cut off all the crops, and destroyed the 
pastures of Linyanti, and the people, as they expressed it, 
were in search of wild fruits and the hospitality of those 
whose ground nuts had not failed." 

Many and terrible too were the evils Sekeletu's leprosy 
had brought in its train. Believing himself bewitched, he 
had put several of his chief men and their families to 
death ; others suspected of having a hand in the matter 
had fled to distant tribes, and were living in exile. No 
one was allowed to approach the afflicted chief but his 
uncle Mamire, his mother, and an old doctress from the 
Manyebi tribe, who — the Makololo doctors having given 
him up — was trying what she could do for him. On this 
old crone the last hopes of chief and nation hung. 



Interview with the Leper. 



205 



Worse still, if anything could be worse, the grand 
empire founded by Sebituane (see our first chapter on 
Livingstone) was crumbling to pieces, the young Barotse 
in the charming valley where the chief and his white guest 
had been so eagerly received in 1855 were in revolt, the 
Batoka and the Nmemba had thrown off their allegiance 
to Sekeletu, and Mashotlane at the Falls was setting his 
superior at defiance. 

Fearful rumours, too, were afloat as to the nature of the 
sufferings of the invisible Sekeletu. His fingers, it was 
said, were grown like eagle's claws ; his face was so fright- 
fully distorted that no one could recognise him. Perhaps, 
after all, he was no true son of Sebituane, and so on, and 
so on. In a word, the power of the once renowned chief- 
tain was broken for ever, and with it the prestige of his 
people. At his death, a few years after the time of which 
we are now writing, a civil war broke out about the suc- 
cession to the chieftainship, and the kingdom was broken 
up. The Makololo exist no longer as a nation. 

Touched to the heart by all he heard and saw, Livingstone 
sent messages begging the chief to admit him to an inter- 
view, and the day after their arrival the two doctors and 
Charles Livingstone were allowed to see the unhappy 
prince. He was sitting in a covered waggon enclosed in a 
high wall of close-set reeds, his face turned out to be but 
slightly disfigured by the thickening of the skin here and 
there, and the only peculiarity about his hands w T as the 
extreme length of his finger nails, nothing remarkable in 
Makololo country, as all its natives allow them to grow 
very long. 

Sekeletu begged for medicine and medical attendance, 
but Livingstone was unwilling to take the case out of the 



206 



Rival Doctors, 



hands of the lady doctor already mentioned, for, apart 
from his belief in the incurability of the disease, it would 
have been bad policy to undervalue any of the native pro- 
fession. When appealed to, the female practitioner de- 
clared she had not yet given up her patient ; she would 
try for another month, and if he was not cured by that 
time, then she would hand him over to the white doctors. 

Now a month was the utmost limit of the time our 
heroes intended remaining at Sesheke, and, yielding to 
Sekeletu's earnest wishes, backed by those of his uncle and 
others, the old lady finally consented to suspend her treat- 
ment for a time, remaining, however, in the chiefs estab- 
lishment on full pay. Drs. Livingstone and Kirk were 
then persuaded to try what they could do, and having 
plainly told Sekeletu that they had little hope of a good 
result, they set to work. 

Having none of the medicines with them which are 
usually employed in skin diseases, Drs. Livingstone and 
Kirk tried the outward application of lunar caustic or 
fused nitrate of silver, and dosed their patient with hydrio- 
date of potash, not without much trepidation as to the 
consequences. Fortunately for them, their treatment was 
wonderfully efficacious ; Sekeletu began to improve at 
once ; his skin became thinner, and the deformity of his 
face disappeared entirely. 

The old doctress, jealous of the success of her rivals, and 
anxious to share the credit of this improvement, now 
secretly applied her own remedies, which consisted in 
scraping the unlucky chief's skin and rubbing it with an 
astringent powder. On a hint from Mamire, however, that 
the medicines of the white and black doctors might not 
work well together, she desisted. 



Sufferings of Missionaries. 207 



Tn treating their patient, Drs. Livingstone and Kirk 
seem to have caught something of his disease, the skin 
of their hands becoming thickened and discoloured in a 
similar manner, but they were fortunately soon cured by 
the use of the caustic mentioned above. 

Though there was a famine in the land during their stay 
at Sesheke, Sekeletu treated his guests right royally, pre- 
paring tea for them on every visit paid to him, and 
ordering his headman Mokele and his aunt Manchunyane 
to provide them with food in the absence of his wives at 
Linyanti. Sekeletu was delighted with the presents 
given to him, and asked if a ship could not bring him the 
things which he heard had been left at Tete. On being 
told that a steamer might possibly ascend part of the 
Zambesi, but could never pass the Victoria Falls, he sug- 
gested that a cannon should be brought to blow away the 
impediment, so that the vessel might come all the way to 
Sesheke. 

Whilst in Makololo Land, our heroes heard of the 
melancholy fate of a large party of missionaries who had 
endeavoured to settle at Linyanti. The Mr. Baldwin 
alluded to above had found them at a well in the desert 
suffering terribly from hunger. They were without horses, 
and game is scarcely to be obtained by travellers on foot. 
Baldwin shot a couple of animals for them, and, unable to 
render them further assistance, left them, to pursue his own 
adventurous journey to the Falls. Some time after this 
they reached Linyanti, but in a state of absolute pro- 
stration. 

Mr. Helmore, the leader, begged Sekeletu to take him 
and his party somewhere else, for they should certainly die 
in Linyanti ; and the chief, ever courteous to his guests, 



208 



Down the Zambesi, 



proposed that they should go with him to Sesheke, but 
while they were getting ready for the journey the waggon- 
drivers were seized with fever. Mrs. Helmore was next 
struck down and died. Her husband, however, declared 
his intention of remaining at his post, and during a month of 
missionary work at Sesheke he converted many natives to 
Christianity. Livingstone heard some young Makololo 
singing hymns Mr. Helmore had taught them, and thinks 
he would probably very soon have exerted a power and 
happy influence over the tribe, but at the end of the 
month he too died of fever. 

Six out of nine Europeans, and four out of thirteen men 
of colour, making up the missionary party, succumbed to 
fever in the short space of three months, and the little 
remnant returned to the Cape broken alike in health and 
spirits. 

The three explorers took leave of Sekeletu on the 17th 
September, 1860, and, escorted by a large party of traders, 
&c, made their way on foot to the village of Sinamene, 
where they embarked on the Zambesi in canoes supplied 
by that chief. All went well until the 19th October, when 
the rapids of Nakansalo having been shot with some diffi- 
culty, the more serious ones of Makabele, at the entrance 
to the Kariba gorge, had to be passed. 

" The Makololo," says Livingstone, " guided the canoe 
admirably through the opening in the dyke ; but when the 
gorge itself was entered, it was full of hippopotami swim- 
ming about behind a bank stretching two-thirds across the 
narrowed river. Several were in the channel, and the 
canoe-men were afraid to venture down among them, 
because, as they affirm, there is commonly an ill-natured 
one in a herd which takes a malignant pleasure in up- 



Among the Rapids. 



209 



setting canoes. Two or three boys on the rocks opposite 
amused themselves by throwing stones at the frightened 
animals, and hit several on the head. 

A few shots were fired to drive the hippopotami off, and 
one was killed. It floated down the rapid current, and its 
companions swam hastily off Had it been only wounded, 
it would probably have gone hard with the canoes ; but, as 
it was, all shot the rapids in safety, though natives on the 
banks shouted out that the white men had better hire a 
Kariba man to pray to the gods of the gorge for their pro- 
tection, or they would all be killed. The hippopotamus 
was taken in tow beyond the rapids, and cut up on the 
banks near the place chosen for pitching the camp for the 
night. The crocodiles of the river, who had followed the 
canoes, and tugged hard at the dead hippopotamus, had a 
gala time of it, as well as the natives, and Livingstone 
tells us that they tore away at the parts of the carcass 
thrown into the river for hours, thrashing the water into 
foam with their powerful tails. 

The next difficulty in the navigation of the Zambesi 
occurred on the 29th, where the river was again narrowed 
into one channel by the mountains of Mburuma. In going 
down, Sekeletu's men behaved admirably, two of them 
jumping overboard to lighten the canoe containing our 
heroes, with the words, " The white men must be saved !" 
They then told a Batoka man to do the same, and on his 
pleading that he could not swim, replied, " Jump out, then, 
and hold on to the canoe." 

The poor fellow did as he was told, and the two Mako- 
lolo, "swimming alongside, guided the swamping canoes 
down the swift current to the foot of the rapid, and then 
ran them ashore to bale them out. Everybody and every- 



210 



A Gallant Rescue, 



thing escaped with a good ducking, thanks entirely to the 
bravery of the Makololo." 

No sooner was this danger over than another had to be 
met. A second rapid begins immediately below that of 
Mburuma. The canoes had to be unloaded, and the goods 
carried some little distance ; but as the men were bringing 
the last canoe close inshore the stem swung round into the 
current, and all the men except one loosed their hold lest 
they should be dragged off. The one man clung to the 
bow, and was swept out into the middle of the stream. 
Then, adds Livingstone, " having held on when he ought 
to have let go, he next put his life in jeopardy by letting 
go when he ought to have held on, and was in a few 
seconds swallowed up by a fearful whirlpool. " His com- 
rades, who seem to have been equal to every emergency, 
launched a canoe below the rapids, and as he rose to the 
surface the third time, caught and saved him, though he 
was in a state of great exhaustion, and very cold. 

The Victoria Falls, the Kebrabasa, Kariba, and minor 
rapids of the Zambesi, are all, in the opinion of Dr. Living- 
stone, the result of some terrible convulsion of nature, 
which occurred in South Africa before the memory of man. 
All the impediments to the navigation of the Zambesi, 
except the Victoria, are, however, removed, or, we 
should rather say, neutralised, when the river is at its 
height, its course being then smooth and its waters very 
deep. 

Zumbo, at the mouth of the Loangwa, a tributary of the 
Zambesi, was reached on the 1st November, and a few 
days later the Kebrabasa rapids were entered. Two of the 
canoes passed safely, but that containing Dr. Kirk was 
dashed on a projection of the perpendicular rocks by a sud- 



Last Days of the Ma- Robert. 211 



deti and mysterious boiling up of the river which occurs at 
irregular intervals, and Kirk only saved his life by 
clinging to a projecting ledge. His steersman, hanging on 
by the same rock, saved the canoe, but nearly all its 
contents were swept away by the stream. Dr. Livingstone 
had also a narrow escape, his little bark having drifted 
into the open vortex of the whirlpool. It was saved by 
the filling up of the cavity just as the frightful eddy was 
reached, a coincidence as remarkable as that which had 
placed his companion's life in jeopardy. 

After this last experience of river travel the Zambesi 
was deserted for the land, and the rest of the journey 
was performed on foot. Tete was entered in safety 
on the 23rd November, after an absence of little more than 
six months, and the river being unusually low, no further 
excursions were undertaken until the 3rd December, when 
the Ma-Eobert, whose days were now numbered, was taken 
down to the Kongone. On the morning of the 21st the 
" old lady," as she was disrespectfully called by her owners, 
grounded on a sandbank and filled. She could neither be 
got off nor unladen. The river rose in the night, and our 
heroes were compelled to encamp on the island of Chimba, 
where they spent Christmas-day. Canoes were sent for 
from Sena, and, transferring all the property which could 
be removed from the Ma-Eobert to them, the explorers 
paddled down the Zambesi without one single regret for 
the loss of their steamer, which from the first had been 
more trouble than she was worth. 

On the 27th December, Sena was entered, and after a 
short stay in that settlement as the guests of their old 
friend Senhor FerrHo, our heroes returned to their former 
station on the Kongone, where a flagstaff and custom- 



212 Arrival of Bishop Mackenzie. 

house had been erected during their absence. Here they 
waited in compulsory inaction until the 31st January, 
1861, when a new steamer named the Pioneer arrived for 
their use, and anchored outside the bar. 

At the same time came two English cruisers, bringing 
Bishop Mackenzie and the Oxford and Cambridge mission 
to the tribes of the Shire and Lake Nyassa, the mission 
consisting of six Englishmen and five coloured men from 
the Cape. The Bishop, anxious to set to work without 
delay, wished the Pioneer to take him and his party up 
the Shire as far as Chief Chibisa's, and Livingstone would, 
personally, have been ready to oblige him. Our hero's em- 
ployers had, however, ordered him to explore the Eovuma, 
a river flowing into the Indian Ocean a little below the 
10th degree S. lat., as, owing to the Portuguese refusal to 
open the Zambesi to ships of any nation but their own, 
it seemed useless to waste further time on its exploration, 
or that of its tributaries. 

Finally a compromise was agreed upon, the Bishop con- 
senting to accompany the exploring expedition up the 
Eovuma, and leave the members of the mission under the 
care of Mr. Sunley, Her Majesty's consul at Johanna, an 
island off Mozambique, until he should have found a 
suitable site for a settlement. 

On the 25th February, 1861, the Pioneer anchored in 
the mouth of the Eovuma, and early in March the ascent 
of the river was begun. The scenery was superior to that 
on the Zambesi. Eight miles from the entrance the man- 
groves were left behind, and a range of well- wooded hills 
began on either side. The explorers were anticipating a 
delightful trip, and an easy voyage to the Lake Nyassa, 
when, after navigating some thirty miles, the water sud- 



Troubles ahead. 



213 



denly began to fall, and in a couple of days had sunk seven 
inches. To avoid a long detention, therefore, as the Pioneer 
could not have been got back to the sea should the fall 
continue, the expedition was reluctantly compelled to turn 
back, having done next to nothing beyond ascertaining the 
current of the Rmuna to be as strong as that of the 
Zambesi, and its volume of water considerably less. 

After a short delay at one of the Comoro islands, owing 
to the breaking out of fever amongst the crew of the 
Pioneer, our heroes proceeded to Johanna to pick up the 
members of the mission, and with them and Bishop Mac- 
kenzie went back to the mouth of the Kongone, ascended 
that river to the Shire, and commenced yet another 
exploration of the Manganja country. 

On this new trip the first object was to find a good site for 
the settlement of the Bishop and his people, and the second 
to try and " turn the industrial energies of the natives to 
good account," chiefly by inducing them to cultivate cotton 
for exportation. All went well at first ; the confidence of 
the people was gained wherever a halt was made ; a cotton 
field extending over some 400 miles was opened ; and if 
the mission of the universities should be only fairly suc- 
cessful, a new era seemed likely to be opened for vast 
tracts of South Africa; but, to quote Livingstone's own 
words, "the turning-point of his prosperous career was 
now reached he and his companions were at last to be 
brought into personal contact with the Portuguese slave- 
trade, and to realise keenly how entirely its continuance 
would neutralise the efforts alike of the missionary, the 
explorer, and the trader. 

On reaching the village of Chibisa, which, it will be 
remembered, is situated just below the cataracts of the 



214 



A Slave Gang. 



Shire, the travellers were met by the news that a fearful 
war was raging in the north of Manganja, and the slave- 
trade was going on briskly. A deputation from a chief 
living near Mount Zomba had just arrived to entreat 
Chibisa to send help, for marauding parties of Ajawa or 
Waiao from the eastern shores of Lake Nyassa were 
desolating the country. 

A large gang of recently captured Manganja crossed the 
river on their way down tj Tete to be sold just before the 
anchoring of the Pioneer off Chibisa, and at the second 
village reached on the overland journey to the highlands 
the party were told that another large body of slaves would 
presently arrive. 

" Shall we interfere V asked explorers and missionaries 
of each other. " Shall we rescue these unhappy wretches 
from their terrible fate, and so risk the destruction in 
retaliation of all the valuable goods we have left behind at 
Tete ? or shall we consult only our own interests, and be 
blind and deaf to all that is going on ?" 

To the honour of England be it spoken, the decision in 
favour of humanity was immediate, and not one voice was 
raised against it. But a few moments after the discussion 
the slave party approached. A long line of manacled men, 
women, and children, chained together in twos and threes, 
came slowly down a hill overlooking the village, driven 
by sturdy blacks armed with muskets and decked out 
with all manner of finery, some of them " blowing exultant 
notes out of long tin horns." 

No sooner, however, did the drivers catch sight of the 
white men drawn up to oppose their progress, than they 
took to their heels, and " darted off like mad into the 
forest/' The chief of the party alone remained, caught by 



Rescue of Slaves, 



215 



a Makololo, and held tightly by the hand as he struggled 
to follow his men. He turned out to be a slave formerly 
in the service of the commandant of Tete, and who had at 
one time attended Livingstone himself. 

" How did you get these slaves V* inquired the white 
men of the captured leader. " By purchase/' was the 
reply ; and on turning to the victims themselves for 
explanation, they said all but four of them had been taken 
in war. Whilst this examination was going on, the driver 
managed to slip away from the Makololo ; and, left alone 
with their deliverers, the captives fell down on their knees 
and expressed their gratitude by vigorously clapping their 
hands. 

The women and children, who were tied together with 
thongs only, were then at once released from their bonds, 
but it was more difficult to relieve the men, as " each had 
his neck in the fork of a stout stick six or seven feet long, 
and kept in by an iron rod which was riveted at both 
ends across the throat." One by one the men were sawn 
out into freedom. 

"The women," continues Livingstone, "when told to 
take the meal they were carrying and cook breakfast for 
themselves, seemed to consider the news too good to be 
true, but after a little coaxing went at it with alacrity, and 
made a capital fire, with which to boil their pots, with the 
slave-sticks and bonds, their old acquaintances through 
many a sad night and weary day." 

Some of the children were not more than five years old, 
and one little boy said to their rescuers' men, " The others 
tied us and starved us ; you cut the ropes and tell us to 
eat ; what sort of people are you ? Where did you come 
from?" 

B— (S.A.) 



216 



Over- Vigilance. 



Two poor women had been shot, the day before meeting 
the white men, for no worse offence than trying to untie 
the thongs ; another had her baby's brains knocked out 
before her eyes, because she could not carry it and the load 
assigned to her as well ; and a man was killed with an 
axe because he was too tired to keep up with the gang. 

Altogether, eighty-four men, women, and children were 
set at liberty, and on being told that they could go where 
they liked or stay with the white men, they all elected to 
stay. Bishop Mackenzie attached them to his mission, and 
the next day the journey was resumed, the liberated slaves 
gladly helping to carry the baggage. A little further 
north eight more victims were liberated, and six others at 
the village of Mongazi, a friendly Manganja chief. The 
latter were in charge of two slave-traders, who were 
detained for the night lest they should give information to 
a large party known to be on in front. 

Two of the Bishop's black men from the Cape, who had 
once been slaves, and were eager to aid in the work of 
emancipation, undertook to guard the prisoners, but they 
were so anxious to prevent their escape that, instead of 
relieving each other, they both kept watch together. As a 
result, both also fell asleep together towards morning, and 
the traders got off. Fifty more slaves were freed the next 
day, though their leader, the agent of one of the principal 
merchants of Tete, protested that he had government 
sanction for all he did. 

Bishop Mackenzie, who had determined to settle in the 
Manganja highlands, now received a message from a 
powerful chief named Chigunda, who had heard of the 
doings of his party, inviting him to come and live with 
him at Magomero, occupying a central position between 



March to meet the Enemy. 217 

the Shire and Lake Shirwa. This hearty and spontaneous 
welcome seemed to offer an opening for the mission not to 
be neglected, and it was decided that Chigunda's invitation 
should be accepted. Before parting company, however, 
missionaries and explorers determined, if possible, to com- 
plete the work they had begun together, by visiting the 
Ajawa chief, and " trying to persuade him to give up his 
slaving and kidnapping courses, and turn the energies of 
his people to peaceful pursuits/' 

This noble purpose was hastened a few days later by the 
arrival of the new3 that the Ajawa were close at hand, 
burning a village ; and, leaving the rescued slaves behind 
them, the little band of white men set off at once to " seek 
an interview with these scourges of the country." On the 
way, crowds of Manganja were met fleeing from the war 
in front, and village after village was passed deserted by 
its inhabitants. 

A few hours' march brought our heroes, who one and 
all well deserved that title, in sight of the smoke of 
burning villages, and within hearing of the wailing of 
women and the shouting of warriors. The Bishop then 
called upon all his comrades to kneel, and in their name 
offered up a fervent prayer to God for help and guidance. 

As the worshippers rose from their knees, a long line 
of Ajawa, with their captives, were seen advancing 
towards them, whilst in the distance rose the shouts of 
their women welcoming home the victors with long and 
reiterated " lillilooings." On recognising the white men, 
the Ajawa headman left the path, and stood as if expec- 
tant on an ant-hill close by. A brief pause ensued, and 
then Livingstone and others cried out that they had come 
to have a peaceful interview, but before any reply could be 



218 



The Ajawa put to Flight. 



given some of the Manganja in the Bishop's party shouted, 
" Our Chibisa is come ¥' 

Now Chibisa was known throughout the length and 
breadth of the land as a mighty conqueror and general, so 
that his name spread terror amongst the ranks of the 
enemy, who ran off " yelling and screaming ' Nkondo ! 
Nkondo !' " (War ! war !). The captives threw down their 
loads and fled to the hills. The consternation was com- 
plete, but it did not last long. Almost before the white 
men had realised that the cry of " Chibisa has come !" had 
neutralised all their efforts for peace, their party was sur- 
rounded by Ajawa, who began to shoot their poisoned 
arrows, and send up their discordant yell of triumph. 

Anxious if possible even now to avoid a conflict, Living- 
stone and Mackenzie led their men slowly up the ascent 
from the village ; but this was taken as a movement of 
retreat, and a sign of fear. The Ajawa closed in upon the 
little band with bloodthirsty fury, dancing hideously in 
their delight at the coming massacre. Only when com- 
pletely surrounded by the savage warriors did the white 
leaders give the word to their men to fire, but fortunately 
the first volley was effective. The Ajawa at once took to 
their heels, though some of them shouted as they fled that 
they would return with others in the night to kill all who 
had interfered with them. Only two slaves were rescued 
by our heroes on this occasion, but probably most of the 
other prisoners escaped in the confusion. 

After this affray no further molestation was offered to 
the white men, but they were much worried with requests 
from the Manganja chieftains to espouse their cause, and 
aid in driving away the Ajawa. This they of course 
declined to do, explaining that they never fought except 




MUUCIIISOX FALLS, 



To the Nyassa again. 



219 



they were attacked ; and finding that it was useless to 
attempt a pacific negotiation between the rival tribes, 
they decided to return southwards, Mackenzie and the 
members of his mission to take up their residence as the 
guests of Chigunda, at Magomero, and there await the 
arrival of a steamer already ordered for the navigation of 
the Nyassa ; Livingstone and his comrades to return to the 
Pioneer. 

On the 6th August, 1861, a few days after their return 
from Magomero, their connection with Bishop Mackenzie's 
mission being now at an end, Dr. Livingstone, his brother, 
and Dr. Kirk started up the Shire for Lake Nyassa in a 
light four-oared gig, accompanied by one white sailor and 
some twenty native servants. People were hired along 
the path to carry the boat past the forty miles of the Mur- 
chison cataracts, and after passing the last the little bark 
was launched on the broad waters of the Upper Shire, 
which Livingstone tells us the natives "look upon as a 
prolongation of Lake Nyassa," for where what he called the 
river approaches Lake Shirwa " the hippopotami, who are 
great night travellers, pass from one lake into the other." 

Keeping along the right or western bank of the Nyassa, 
to avoid the marauding parties of Ajawa prowling about 
on the left, the explorers rounded the promontory now 
known as Cape Maclear, at the southern extremity, and 
explored some 200 miles of the coast, which they found to 
be densely populated, more so in fact than any part of the 
interior of Africa yet visited by Europeans. In the southern 
part villages succeeded each other in one long unbroken 
chain, and on the edge of almost every little bay crowds of 
dusky natives assembled to stare at the novel sight of a 
boat with a sail. To land was to attract hundreds of 



220 



The Retreat is sounded. 



women and children, eager to have a stare at the 
" chirombo," or wild animals, as they called the white men ; 
and when the latter took their food, the excitement and 
amazement became extreme. 

The lake people, on further acquaintance, turned out to 
differ but little from their neighbours in the south. All 
were tattooed, and wore little or no clothing. The chief 
of the northern districts, Marenga by name, received his 
visitors with almost European courtesy, giving them 
bountiful presents of food and beer, whilst his subjects 
emulated his example by adding liberal donations of fish. 
Only once on the whole journey was any incivility offered 
to the travellers, and that was at Chitanda, one of the 
slave crossing-places, where they were robbed of some 
pillows and clothing whilst they were asleep. 

Pursuing their exploxations beyond Marenga's land, our 
heroes .found the more northerly districts "the abode of 
lawlessness and bloodshed." The tribe of Mazitu, living 
in the highlands, were at war with the people of the 
plains, and the slave-trade was going on at a terrible rate. 
Two enterprising Arabs had built a dhow, and were 
running her regularly backwards and forwards crowded 
with slaves to be marched down to the eastern coast, and 
there sold. Enough, however, has already been said of 
the horrors of the infamous traffic in this part of Africa. 
Sick at heart with all they had seen, and their strength 
and resources alike exhausted, the explorers determined to 
turn back. On the 27th October, 1861, the word of retreat 
was given, and a few weeks later they were again on their 
way down the Shire. 

As they descended the now well-known river, a number 
of Manganja families were discovered living in small 



Refugees amongst the Papyrus. 221 

temporary reed huts built on the belt of papyrus round the 
lakelet Pamalombe, where they had taken refuge from the 
Ajawa. The papyrus grew so thickly that, when beaten 
down, it readily supported the weight of the houses, and it 




PAPYRUS. 



grew to so great a height as effectually to conceal its 
inmates from any passer-by upon the river banks. Our 
illustration represents a group of papyrus such as is 
common in all the lakes and rivers of South Africa, and 
often forms an impenetrable barrier to the explorer. 



222 



Arrival of Ladies from Europe 



The Pioneer was regained on the 8th November, 1861, 
and after receiving a visit from Bishop Mackenzie, who 
M as in capital health and spirits, our heroes took their 
little vessel back to the Zambesi, entering that river on the 
11th January, 1862. A fortnight later they cast anchor 
in the great Luabo mouth of the Zambesi, and on the 30th 
January were cheered by the arrival of Her Majesty's ship 
Gorgon towing a brig, in which were Mrs. Livingstone, and 
some ladies about to join their relatives of the Universities 
mission. A new iron steamer in sections, to be put 
together for the navigation of Lake Nyassa, with a view to 
overawing the Ajawa and Arab and Portuguese slave 
traders, was amongst the freight of the brig, and it seemed 
as if a new era of work and of discovery was to begin. 

Very joyfully did the Pioneer steam out to welcome the 
brig and tow her into the Kongone harbour. The new 
steamer was named the Lady of the Lake, or the Lady 
Nyassa, and her delicate limbs were carried piecemeal up 
to Shapunga, where they were landed to be put together. 
But alas ! before anything could be done towards taking 
the Lady of the Lake up to the scene of her imaginary 
triumphs, came sad news of Bishop Mackenzie's death. 

Liable to witness unmoved the sufferings of the poor 
people under his care, and indignant at the seizure for 
slaves of some carriers in his own service, the missionary 
had come into collision with the natives, and had been 
more than once in danger of his life. He had escaped, 
however, almost by a miracle, and was on his way down 
the Shire to meet the ladies mentioned above, when he was 
seized with fever at the mouth of the Euo, a tributary of 
the Shire, the result, it is supposed, partly of over-fatigue 
and partly of the upsetting of his canoe the night before, 



A Terrible Disappointment. 223 



when lie and his men were nearly drowned, and all his 
property was lost. 

For three weeks Mackenzie hovered between life and 
death, and on the 31st January, the very day after the 
arrival of the Gorgon off the coast, he breathed his last. 
He was buried by his friend and companion, Mr. Burrup, 
at the edge of a dark forest, used as a graveyard by 
the natives, about a hundred yards from the junction of 
the Euo with the Shire, opposite a little island called 
Malo. Mr. Burrup, himself far gone with fever and 
dysentery, was carried by some Makololo on a litter of 
branches back to Magomero, where he too shortly after- 
wards expired. 

Captain Wilson, of the Gorgon, knowing nothing of this 
sad tragedy, had hastened up the Shire in his gig, taking 
with him the ladies of the mission party, as he thought, to 
a joyful meeting with their husbands and fathers. He was 
followed by Dr. Kirk and Mr. Sewell, paymaster of the 
Gorgon, in the whale-boat of the Lady Nyassa. The Shire 
being in flood, the two boats quickly reached Chibisa's, where 
some Makololo who had been in the Bishop's service 
told the sad news of his death, and that of Mr. Burrup. 

Leaving the ladies at Chibisa's, Captain Wilson and Dr. 
Kirk then went up to the hills in the hope of being able 
to render some assistance to the survivors of the mission. 
Some of the party were, however, met about half-way, 
sorrowfully journeying down to the coast, and, joining 
forces, all returned together to Chibisa's, and escorted the 
bereaved ladies back to the Pioneer. Both Captain Wilson 
and Dr. Kirk suffered terribly from fever in descending the 
Shire, but arrived safely at Shapunga on the 11th March, 
after an absence of three weeks. 



224 Death of Mrs. Livingstone. 

On the 13th March the Pioneer steamed down to the 
Kongone, and on the 4th of the ensuing month the Gorgon 
left for the Cape, taking back all but one of the party who 
had come out in January. That one was the Eev. James 
Stewart, who remained behind in the hope of re-founding 
the mission ; but though he went up the Shire as far as 
the Upper Cataracts, he found but a little remnant of the 
dense population first seen by Livingstone living in peace 
and plenty. The ravages of the slave-hunters were over, 
for there were no able-bodied victims left, but they were 
succeeded by drought and famine, and after a trip to the 
Zambesi as far as the Kebrabasa rapids, Stewart returned 
home by way of Mozambique and the Cape, convinced 
that there was no field now open to him for missionary 
effort. 

In April, 1861, whilst waiting for the right season to 
take the Lady Nyassa up to the lake, fever wrought great 
havoc amongst the members of our exploring expedition, 
and about the middle of the month Mrs. Livingstone, who 
had hoped to accompany her husband in all his future 
journeys, was taken ill. Every possible medical aid was 
rendered to her both by Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, but 
she gradually sank, and died on the 27th April, 1862. 

A coffin was made during the night for the remains of 
the beloved " Ma-Kobert," who had done so much to aid 
our great hero in the early part of his career, and the next 
day she was buried beneath a spreading baobob tree on the 
banks of the river. 

We pass over the grief of Livingstone as a subject too 
sacred for strangers to dwell upon, only adding that he 
did not suffer it to interfere with the work still before 
him, but continued to be the unwearying leader of the ill- 



Second Trip tip the Rovunta. 225 

fated expedition until its sudden and unexpected recall 
home in the autumn of 1861. 

The Lady Nyassa was safely launched at Shapunga on 
the 23rd June, though the work of putting her together 
had been much delayed by fever and dysentery amongst 
the European workmen. Our readers will doubtless now 
expect to hear great things of her doings, but we are com- 
pelled reluctantly to own that she never fulfilled her title. 
She proved herself a trustworthy and steady little vessel 
in many a river cruise, but she never was on the lake from 
which she took her name ; she never aided in the suppres- 
sion of the slave-trade, and for all practical purposes she 
might almost as well have remained in England. 

By the time everything had been placed on board the 
Lady Nyassa, the waters of the Zambesi and Shire had 
fallen too low for navigation, and whilst waiting for the 
season of flood our heroes made a second trip up the 
Eovuma in open boats, this time ascending as far as E. 
long. 38° 36', where dangerous rapids compelled them to 
turn back. 

On the 10th January, 1863, the Shire having risen, the 
Pioneer took the Lady Nyassa in tow, and once more began 
the ascent to the Murchison Cataracts, arriving within 
about 500 yards of them, without any special difficulty, 
early in March. Here the Livingstones and Kirk were 
rejoined by Thornton, who had been absent on the journey 
to Kilimandjaro with Baron Von der Decken related in our 
previous chapter. 

The sudden fall of the Shire compelled both the Pioneer 
and Lady Nyassa to cast anchor below the first cataract, and 
Thornton employed the delay in endeavouring to relieve a 
few members of Mackenzie's mission who had fled from 



226 Recall of the Expedition, 



Magomero to Chibisa's, and were there suffering from 
famine. He succeeded in his object, making his way over- 
land to and from Tete, but he overtasked his strength, and 
on his return to the Pioneer he was taken ill with fever, 
which terminated fatally on the 21st April. He was 
buried on the 22nd, near a large tree on the right bank of 
the Shire. 

Finding it impossible further to ascend the Shire with 
the two steamers, the survivors now unscrewed the Lady 
Nyassa, and began to make a road over the thirty-four 
miles between the first cataract and the lake. When a 
few miles were completed, and the oxen which were to 
draw the Lady Nyassa along were broken in, Dr. Living- 
stone and a Mr. Eae made a preliminary excursion to the 
Upper Cataracts, with a view to opening relations with 
the tribe not yet touched by the Ajawa invasion, and thus 
render the expedition independent of supplies from the 
south. 

The trip was a failure, owing to the destruction of a 
boat on which our hero had relied for ascending the Shire 
above the cataracts, and on his return to the Pioneer he 
found the despatch from Earl Eussell, already alluded to, 
containing instructions for the withdrawal of the expedi- 
tion. In a few months now it would be absolutely neces- 
sary to return to the coast, but those few months might 
yet be turned to account. Eager not to lose a single 
chance of discovery, the Livingstones and Kirk made yet 
one more journey to the Nyassa, discovered the source on 
its western shores of the Loangwa, a tributary of the Zam- 
besi already several times mentioned, attempted to reach 
the junction of the two rivers by a journey overland in a 
westerly direction, and, time and means alike failing them, 



The Voyage to Bombay. 



227 



returned to the Pioneer. The Shire was now safely 
descended in that much-tried vessel for the last time, and 
early in January, 1864, anchor was once more cast in the 
mouth of the Zambesi. 

On the 13th February, 1864, our heroes embarked in 
Her Majesty's ship Orestes, which took the Pioneer in tow, 
whilst Her Majesty's ship Ariel did the same service for 
the Lady jSTyassa, and after a stormy crossing the four 
vessels arrived safely in Mozambique harbour. Here the 
Pioneer was given over to the navy to be sent to the Cape 
for repairs ; and embarking on the Lady Nyassa, the three 
explorers steamed out of Mozambique on the 16th April, 
reaching Zanzibar a week later. On the 30th April they 
started for Bombay, and anchored in that harbour in the 
first week in June. " Our vessel," says Livingstone, as he 
winds up his account of the work of six long years, " was 
so small, that no one noticed our arrival;" truly a pathetic 
and significant ending of an expedition which had set out 
with such high hopes of great and permanent results ! 

We know how the Livingstones and their companion 
Dr. Kirk were welcomed on their arrival in England in 
July, 1864. We know that little more than a year elapsed 
before the great leader of this melancholy expedition was 
again at work ; but to render our narrative complete we 
must leave him for a while, first to join the German geolo- 
gist Karl Mauch, who supplemented the discoveries of his 
predecessors in South-East Africa, and then to trace the 
progress of exploration in the western equatorial districts. 

Mauch began his wanderings in Africa, which extended 
over eight years, by exploring the districts between the 
Vaal and the Limpopo rivers, but want of means prevented 
his attempting researches in the unknown parts of South 



228 Mauch' s Geological Discoveries. 

Africa, where money in the form of beads, cloth, &c, is 
indispensable to success. Thanks to the liberality of the 
well-known German geographer Petermann, however, this 
difficulty was removed as soon as Mauch had proved his 
courage, endurance, and scientific acumen by valuable 
maps sent home, and, joining a party of elephant-hunters 
in the Magaliesberg mountains, our hero made them his 
head-quarters, and in excursions from them discovered 
several gold-fields near the Vaal river. 

The excitement caused in Europe by the news of the 
existence of vast mineral treasures in South Africa will 
long be remembered, but it is with geographical, not geolo- 
gical, discovery that we have now to deal, and we must 
content ourselves with adding that five gold-fields were 
found by Mauch, that known as the Leydenburg in the 
Transvaal Eepublic having proved the richest, and that he 
also made an exhaustive survey of the structure of the 
Magaliesberg mountains, the nature of the soil in the low- 
lands, &c, &c, his reports giving an extraordinary impulse 
to emigration. 

More interesting from our point of view was Mauch's 
journey of 1868, resulting in the discovery of important 
ruins in Mashonaland, about forty miles from Sofala, of 
which rumours had long been afloat amongst the Portuguese 
settlers. This trip led our hero through the tract of country 
between the Transvaal Eepublic and Inhambane, then 
inhabited by independent Kaffir tribes living in scattered 
villages such as that represented in our illustration. 

Without one trustworthy servant — for the natives 
alleged the ruins to be haunted by spirits, and could not 
be induced to furnish a guide — Mauch ascended the hill, 
some 400 feet high, on which the ruins called Zimbabye 



The Ruins of Zimbabye. 229 



by the Portuguese are situated, and found them to consist 
of walls from seven to ten feet thick and 30 feet in height, 
formed of huge slabs of granite without mortar, kept 
together by their own weight. This wall can be traced 
for 150 yards, and from one portion rises a tower thirty 
feet high, of a pyramidal form. 

Mauch was of the opinion that Zimbabye is the Ophir 
of the Old Testament from which the ships of Solomon 
brought gold, precious stones, &c. ; and the unwillingness 
of the natives to allow travellers to explore the ruins he 
supposed to be partly due to a belief in the existence of a 
hidden treasure in vaults beneath. The ruins were explored 
in 1891 by Theodore Bent, who thinks they are of 
Mahommedan origin. Mashonaland was placed under the 
protection of Great Britain in 1888, and since 1890 has 
belonged to the British South African Company, to which 
a Eoyal Charter was granted in 1889, stating that "the 
principal field of the operations of the Company shall be 
the region of South Africa lying immediately to the north 
of British Bechuanaland." 

After a narrow escape from the hands of a Kaffir chief, 
who wished to detain him a prisoner for life, Mauch made 
his way to the east coast through Sofala, arriving there in 
a state of great exhaustion. Of his other trips in South- 
East Africa, a visit to our old acquaintance Mosilikatse, 
and a voyage down the Vaal river from Potchefstrom to 
the now well-known gold-fields of Hebron, were the most 
important, but he made no new geographical discoveries, 
and our limits compel us to refer our readers for further 
details of his researches to his own books, and to those of 
Mohr, Baines, Chapman, and others. 

Edward Mohr, who fell a victim to fever on the fatal 
west coast of Africa on the eve of a new expedition, gave 



230 



Mohr and Baines. 



many a charming picture of life amongst the Kaffirs, the 
Boers, &c, in his account of his famous journey " To the 
Victoria Falls of the Zambesi,' ' in which, however, no new 
ground was traversed ; and in his companion volumes on 
South- West and South-East Africa, the artist and hunter, 
Thomas Baines, brought vividly before his readers, both 
with pen and pencil, the most striking characteristics of 
the races, the flora, and the fauna of the more southerly 
portions of the vast continent of Africa, before that parti- 
tion amongst the European Powers which has taken place 
in the last few years, and has done so much to obliterate 
native characteristics. 




BUSHMAN. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



WESTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORERS. 

Magyar's Marriage with, an African Princess, and Journeys in Congo, &c. — 
Du Chaillu's Arrival in the Gaboon — The Mpongwes — Ascent of the 
River — A Chase — Start for the Cannibal Country — The Sierra de 
Cristal Range— First Meeting with Gorillas— Fan Warriors — A Gorilla 
Hunt — Horrors of Cannibalism amongst the Fans — Compelled to turn 
back — Down the Coast to the Fernand Yaz — A young Gorilla — Up the 
Rembo — Encounters with Gorillas — Terrible Executions at Goumbi — 
Entry of Ashira Land — King Olenda — Apingi Land and its Chief — A 
Black Man offered to Du Chaillu for Supper — Du Chaillu made King 
of Apingi Land — Fever, and Return to the Coast — Second Journey to 
Ashira Land — Mouth of the Cammi — Another Gorilla Captured — The 
Junction of the Niembai and Ovenga — Olenda again — Trip to the Falls 
of the Ngouyai — Long Delay at Olenda's Tillage — Small-pox and 
Famine — Death of Quengueza — Start for the East — Entry of Otando 
Land — Terror of the Natives — On the Borders of Ishogo — A Dwarf 
Tribe — Quarrel with Natives — Narrow Escape, and Flight to the 
Coast — Return to Europe — Du Chaillu's Discoveries confirmed by 
Monteiro, Bastian, and Burton. 

JHH.HE present century was considerably advanced before 



A any complete or satisfactory information was obtained 
respecting Western Equatorial Africa. As we have seen 
in our companion volume, Heroes of Discovery in North 
Africa (chap, vii.), the expedition sent out under Captain 
Tuckey in 1816, with a view to establishing the supposed 
identity of the Congo and Niger, ended disastrously, and 
the discovery by Bowdich three years later of the Ogowe, 




232 



Magyar s Travels. 



an unimportant independent river of Western Africa, be- 
tween the two mentioned above, led to no practical results. 

From the letters, however, of a young Hungarian named 
Magyar, who married the daughter of a native chief of 
Benguela, and spent many years in that province, some 
fragmentary details were gathered respecting the lower 
course of the Congo, and the districts watered by the 
Upper Kubango and Upper Zambesi. 

Before his marriage, which took place in 1849, Magyar 
made a trip up the Congo, starting from Ambriz, a small 
seaport in S. lat. 7° 32', E. long. 13° 8', and ascending the 
shores of what is now the Congo Free State in a canoe 
with six native sailors. Entering the river itself, our hero 
reached the cataracts without much difficulty, and beyond 
them he crossed the country explored by Livingstone in 
one of his early journeys. 

After this trip, Magyar, with his wife, settled in Bih^, 
where he became to all intents and purposes a negro 
prince, owning some hundred slaves, and sharing in all the 
ambitions of his father-in-law. In 1852 he made a journey 
southwards to the Upper Cunene, and was honourably 
received by the king of Cambabe, but the breaking out of 
a revolution compelled him to cut short his visit, though 
he managed to make his way alone through a desert and 
uninhabited district to the supposed source of the Cunene, 
in the plains of Galangue, about 160 miles south of the 
equator. 

It was Magyar's intention to spend many years in 
further researches in the interior of Western Equatorial 
Africa, but his prosperous career was suddenly checked by 
the fall and exile of his black father-in-law. Deprived of 
his slaves, his lands, and all his property, the young Hun- 




VIEW OF SEA-SHOEE OF CONGO. 



The Work of Du Chaillu. 233 



garian was compelled to work for his daily bread. He 
retired to the Portuguese town of Domio Grande in 
Benguela, where he earned a scanty subsistence by 
drawing maps, &c, for the Government, and died on the 
9th November, 1864, leaving his account of his journeys 
unfinished. 

The fame of Magyar has been completely eclipsed by 
that of the chief hero of the present chapter, the great 
Paul du Chaillu, an American by birth, but a Frenchman 
by parentage, who between 1856-59 thoroughly explored 
the region lying between 2° north and 2° south latitude, 
proving the identity of the Ogowe with the three streams 
forming its outlet into the Atlantic known as the Mexian, 
the Nazareth, and the Eernand Vaz, tracing the Ogowe 
from its origin west of the watershed between it and the 
Congo to its mouth in Nazareth Bay, and supplementing 
these geographical discoveries by others equally important 
to ethnological, zoological, and botanical science. A second 
journey, in which Ashango Land was visited, and the most 
westerly buttresses examined of a great mountain range 
erroneously " supposed to divide the continent of Africa 
nearly along the line of the Equator," was also fruitful of 
results, and the two expeditions may be looked upon as 
steps towards the realisation of one of the greatest achieve- 
ments of the present age, the connection of the eastern 
and western coasts of Central Africa by the world-famous 
journeys of Cameron and Stanley. 

Du Chaillu, whose expenses were paid by a Phila- 
delphian scientific society, arrived at the mouth of the 
Gaboon river, already dotted with missionary settlements 
such as that in our illustration, early in 1856, having 
already, in several years' residence on the coast as a trader, 



234 



The Mpongwes. 



acquired considerable experience in dealing with the 
Mpongwes, the chief native tribe of the coast districts. 
Beino- anxious to harden himself to the climate of the 
interior, so often fatal to the white man, he took up his 
quarters at Baraka, eight miles up the river, then the 
station of an American mission founded about 1842 by the 
Eev. J. L. Wilson. Here our hero was most hospitably- 
entertained, and the early part of his narrative is occupied 
in describing the results already achieved by the little band 
of Christian teachers there at work. Baraka, he tells us, is 
situated at the summit of a beautiful hill, the base of which 
was surrounded by native villages, and was once the site of 
a slave factory, where the slave-trade was carried on with 
great energy and success. Finding the full-grown Mpong- 
wes too lazy and too confirmed in their heathen habits to 
be permanently influenced, Mr. Wilson and his assistants 
had devoted most of their time to the instruction of the 
children, teaching them to read the Scriptures in their own 
language, and to master the first principles of geography, 
arithmetic, &c. They hoped, by these means, gradually to 
change the whole character of the Mpongwe race, many 
members of which may be called almost intellectual. 

According to Du Chaillu, the Mpongwe are but one 
branch of a great negro family which has moved gradually 
down from the interior to the sea-coast, taking the place of 
other tribes, the Ndina, for instance, who have disap- 
peared — we might almost say melted away — in that 
mysterious way peculiar to native races, leaving scarcely a 
trace of their existence. The Mpongwes are a fine-looking 
sturdy set of men, resembling in their general appearance 
the Mandingoes, so often met with in our travels further 
north. Eager traders, they and their neighbours to the 



MPONGWES IN THEIR CANOES MEETING A SHIP. 



On Corisco Island. 



235 



north-west, the Shekiani and others, mistrust all explorers 
who seem likely to interfere with their gains, and only by 
repeated assurances of his innocence of any such intention 
was our hero able to obtain permission to traverse their 
country, and even then, many of the merchants with whom 
he had done a brisk business in ivory, dyes, &c, in former 
times, tried to scare him from visiting the interior by 
terrible stories of the ferocity of the cannibal tribes living 
to the east, and of the untamable gorillas and other wild 
beasts haunting the impenetrable forests and impassable 
swamps. 

Nothing daunted by all he heard, but more eager than 
ever to see and judge for himself, our hero sailed from the 
Gaboon early in April, 1856, intending first to explore the 
Muni, flowing into the Atlantic at 1° N. lat., and for this 
purpose he landed at Corisco Island, situated in the bay of 
the same name, where he was to obtain canoes and men to 
help him to ascend the river. Here, as at Baraka, Du 
Chaillu's hosts were missionaries, who had three important 
stations on the island, and had done much good work 
amongst the native Mbengas, formerly a warlike, quarrel- 
some race, but now quiet and peaceable converts to Chris- 
tianity, retaining, however, many strange, superstitious, 
and cruel practices, the relics of their former faith. 

Du Chaillu's efforts at Corisco, earnestly seconded by 
the Eev. Mr. Mackey and Mr. Clemens, resulted in his 
obtaining the escort of a certain chieftain named Mbango, 
who was to introduce him to an influential king on the 
Muni, and on the 27 th July he started for that river in 
Mbango's canoe, with a crew of twelve negroes, all armed 
with guns, and a personal outfit of a chest containing " 100 
fathoms of print, nineteen pounds of white beads, a quantity 



236 



A Race. 



of small looking-glasses, steels and flints, a quantity of 
leaf tobacco, eighty pounds of shot and bullets, twenty- 
five pounds of powder, and a few guns." Thus provided, 
he proposed penetrating to the very heart of the Sierra del 
Cristal, a chain running parallel with and about 80 or 100 
miles distant from the coast, between the equator and 2° 
N. lat., visiting the cannibal tribes supposed to lead a wild 
life in those mountain fastnesses, and ascertain if, as 
reported, the Congo continued its course in a north-easterly 
direction above the equator. How far this programme was 
realised our narrative will show. 

Passing in rapid succession the little islands of Leval, 
Banian, and Big and Little Alobi, dotting the bay of 
Corisco, the canoe was making rapid progress, when a 
detention suddenly occurred of a character so thoroughly 
African as to merit detailed relation here. 

We must explain that Mbango was a very great trader, 
and, as such, the possessor of many creditors, who, like 
their compeers all the world over, were more ready to 
borrow than to pay. Now, as the little bark containing 
our hero and his sable attendants shot along, a large boat 
came slowly sailing towards it, which, when near enough 
for its inmates to recognise Mbango, was hurriedly put 
about, and paddled off, not quite quickly enough, however, 
for Mbango had already caught sight of an old debtor of 
his on board, and urging his men to put on all speed, he 
gave chase, shouting " Stop, stop ! " and threatening to fire 
on the fugitives if he were not obeyed. In vain ! At 
every shout the rowers on the larger vessel redoubled their 
efforts, and a few random shots from the canoe only 
frightened them still more. To make a long story short, 
the smaller and swifter vessel won the race ; it was hauled 



Up the Muni 



237 



alongside of the enemy ; a fierce hand-to-hand fight 
ensued, and the debtor's party, finding they were getting 
the worst of it, finally sprang into the water and swam off, 
leaving three prisoners, one a woman, in Mbango's hands. 
These, he coolly informed Du Chaillu — who throughout the 
scuffle had gesticulated and protested unnoticed — he should 
retain as hostages until he got some bar-wood for which 
he had paid in advance. That matter settled, the canoe's 
head was once more turned towards the Muni ; but our 
hero, not quite so much accustomed to unexpected fights 
as his escort, was so exhausted as to be obliged to land on 
the island of Little Alobi, where he passed the night, and 
took some doses of quinine to ward off fever. 

The next morning he was visited by several Muni men, 
and in the afternoon sailed with a favourable tide up the 
river for the village of Mbango's friend Dayoko. Formed 
by the junction of the Ntongo, the Ntambounay and the 
Noya, the two last rising in the Sierra del Cristal, the 
Muni flows into the bay of Oorisco, in N. lat. 1° 2', and W. 
long. 9° 33', and is bounded on either side by mangrove 
swamps, with here and there a patch of rising ground 
dotted with Shekiani villages. An uninteresting paddle 
of about forty miles brought our hero at ten p.m. to 
Dayoko's village, a miserable collection of huts rising from 
a mud bank forming its chief protection from attacks from 
the river. The natives, roused from their "beauty sleep" 
by the arrival of the strangers, poured out armed with old 
muskets, &c, expecting nothing less than a raid from the 
interior ; but recognising the friendly Mbangos, they flung 
down their arms, rent the air with shouts of welcome, and 
conducted them to the stranger's house, always kept empty 
for visitors. 

T— (s.A.) 



238 



Interview with Dayoko. 



Presently Dayoko himself appeared, followed by his 
numerous wives, all eager to stare at the white man, and 
the tedious ceremony of a so-called " salutation," insepar- 
able from a West African welcome, ensued, Mbango 
making an oration, giving a most minute account of every 
incident of the trip from Gorisco. Not until twelve o'clock 
was our weary hero allowed to enjoy either supper or bed. 

The next morning Du Chaillu had an early interview 
with Dayoko — who, in spite of the wretched appearance of 
his village, was the oldest and most influential chief of the 
Mbousha tribe — and consulted with him as to the best plan 
for carrying out his scheme of a journey into the Tan 
country beyond the Sierra del Cristal. As usual, the first 
reply was, " Impossible ; you will die on the road ; . . . 
you will be murdered by the cannibals, and eaten ; . . . 
there is war on the river, and the tribes will not let you 
pass ; . . . the country is sick," &c, &c. To all this 
Du Chaillu merely answered that his mind was made up ; 
he would go, and if not with Dayoko's people, then with 
some one else. 

This settled the matter ; the Mbousha chieftain promised 
his protection, and it was arranged that after a few days' 
rest our hero should go on with some of his men to 
Mbene's village, a little further up the river, and there 
obtain porters, &c, for his proposed journey into the 
interior. The interval of waiting was employed partly in 
hunting and partly in examining the beautiful flora of the 
banks of the river, but just before leaving the village, Du 
Chaillu's favourable impression of his hosts received a 
severe shock, for, though not an eye-witness of the actual 
deed, he saw all the attendant horrors of the murder of a 
poor old negro, said to be a great wizard, and to have done 



In the Swamps. 



239 



much harm. In vain did the white man plead his cause 
with Dayoko ; he was dragged down to the river, and there 
literally hacked to pieces by some half-dozen of his fellow- 
countrymen. 

On the 18th August Da Chaillu started for the interior, 
accompanied by a Mbousha escort, including two of 
Dayoko's sons, and preceded by forerunners charged by the 
Mbousha chief to herald his approach to his brothers further 
east. 

A short paddle down the Ndina, there little more than 
a mangrove swamp, brought the party to the main stream 
of the Muni, and after a short halt at a village near the 
junction of the Noya and Ntambounay forming the Muni, 
the Ntambounay was ascended till the first Shekiani village 
was reached. Here a small canoe replaced the large one 
hitherto used, and late on the 19th August the Noonday 
river joining the Ntambounay was entered, and followed 
through beautiful forest scenery, with the first buttresses 
of the Sierra del Cristal rising in the distance, till it almost 
dwindled away in a tangled thicket of aloe trees, com- 
pelling the travellers to disembark, and carry their canoe 
over the fallen trees and through the dense jungle. In a 
word, the last stage of this day's journey was one long 
struggle with the vegetation choking up the stream ; yet, 
as Du Chaillu observes, he was travelling along the only 
highway by which the natives bring their ivory, ebony, 
and india-rubber to the coast. 

Darkness overtook our hero before Mbene's village was 
reached, and he was dreading a night in the swamps, when 
a son of that chieftain with whom the party had fallen in 
by the way offered to hurry on and bring assistance from 
his home. A little later he returned, accompanied by his 



240 Start for the Sierra del Cristal. 

father and a number of men and women, who, eagerly 
welcoming their guests, conducted them over a mere 
elephant track to their encampment in the wilderness, 
which turned out to be yet in its infancy, a mere clearing 
of forest ground, with a few huts surrounded by a grove of 
plantain trees in the centre. 

Disappointed at the very primitive character of his new 
protector's home, and anticipating little real help from 
him, Du Chaillu passed an unquiet night, but woke to find 
himself at the foot of the first granite range of the Sierra 
del Cristal, the " goal of his desires." Only ten or fifteen 
miles lay between him and the hills beyond which lived 
the Fans and the gorillas, with whom he was longing to 
make acquaintance. The next day Dayoko's men were 
sent home, and Mbene, having agreed that his brother 
Ncomo and some of his own men should accompany the 
explorer as far as the Fan country, Du Chaillu resigned 
himself to wait till the party should be collected. De- 
clining his host's offer of a wife, though accepting the 
services of the candidate for that honour as a cook, he amused 
himself in the ensuing days with hunting, and in paying 
dying visits to the neighbouring villages inhabited by the 
Mbondemo tribe, differing but little from those of their 
cousins the Mbousha, Shekiani, and other inland tribes, 
though less well-built than the homes of their sea-coast 
neighbours such as the Mpongwe. 

On the morning of the 24th August the start was at last 
made for the Sierra del Cristal, the party this time con- 
sisting of Du Chaillu, the Ncomo already mentioned, two 
of Mbene's sons named Miengai and Maginda, a young 
man named Pouliandai, and half-a-dozen sturdy Mbon- 
demo women to carry the baggage. 



An Unexpected Meeting. 241 



After a walk of five miles the banks of the Noonday 
river, here a clear and beautiful though narrow stream, 
were reached, and a chance shot from Du Chaillu's rifle at 
a strange fish which attracted his attention roused a herd 
of elephants on the opposite bank, who made off with 
shrill cries and trumpetings of fright. The Noonday crossed, 
a march of ten miles in a north-easterly direction ensued, 
and a range of granite hills forming part of the Sierra 
del Cristal was reached. A crooked and poorly marked 
path, winding its devious course about immense boulders 
of granite and quartz, " led up to a table-land some 600 
feet high and three miles long, also strewn with masses of 
quartz and granite, passing which another tier of hills 
steeper and higher than the first had to be climbed. 

Following his guides, who, he tells us, scudded up the 
rocks like monkeys, clinging to every little foothold with 
their bare supple toes in a manner impossible for him to 
imitate in his heavy shoes, Du Chaillu was about to begin 
the ascent of this second tier, when Miengai suddenly made 
him a sign to pause. He had probably caught sight of a 
herd of elephants or of a tiger, and cocked his gun in 
readiness to fire, his master following his example. Five 
minutes of breathless silence followed, and then a long 
loud hurrah rung out, answered by shouts from the rocks 
and trees around. What could it be ? No elephant, no 
tiger was ever greeted in such wise. Du Chaillu was 
still looking about him in wonderment, when Miengai 
raised the fierce war-cry of his nation and darted forward, 
his master close behind him. Another moment and the 
mystery was explained, for our hero came in sight of an 
encampment of Mbene's people on their way home from a 
trading expedition to the interior. There lay some hun- 



242 



Mutiny. 



dred weary black men taking their ease about their fires, 
whilst their women cooked and slaved for them, and their 
children gathered sticks and branches. Pitching his own 
camp near them, Du Chaillu allowed his men to fraternise 
with their comrades, and did not resume his march the 
next morning till they had started for home ; the men 
carrying only their arms, the women and children 
staggering under the weight of the baskets of india-rubber 
and ivory. 

A tramp of eighteen miles through rain and mud, and 
up a continuous ascent, brought our explorer late on the 
same day to a large Mbondemo encampment in the hills, 
where he made himself comfortable, and indulged in a 
good long rest before he began the ascent of the second 
range of the Sierra del Cristal. Here, however, he had 
some little difficulty with his men, who declared they would 
not go a step further unless he paid them more cloth. 
Putting a bold face on the matter, though to have been 
deserted then would have been certain death, our hero 
went amongst the mutineers, pistols in hand; declaring that 
he would give them nothing more, nor would he permit 
them to leave him, for had not their father, Mbene, given 
them to him to go with him to the Fan tribe ? They must 
go on, or — here followed a demonstration with the pistols 
— there would be war to the death between them and their 
master. 

This steady demeanour had the desired effect ; the men 
wavered, consulted together, withdrew their threats and their 
demands, and, shaking hands with Du Chaillu, promised 
fidelity and friendship. The ascent of the second range of 
the Sierra del Cristal began, and struggling up and up 
through a wild country, densely wooded and apparently 



The First Gorillas. 



243 



untenanted by a single living creature, they came about 
midday to the head waters of the Ntambounay, dashing 
down hill in the form of a mountain torrent, " extending 
for a mile/' right before the explorer, " like a vast seething 
billowy sea." 

Pausing but to drink " a few handfuls of the pure clear 
water," Du Chaillu pressed on, and an hour's furtheT 
ascent brought him to a clearing once occupied by a 
Mbondemo village, on the very summit of the range, some 
5000 feet above the sea-level, from which he had an unin- 
terrupted view of the hills ascended the day before, and 
the apparently endless virgin forests on the west, whilst 
far away in " the east loomed the blue tops of the farthest 
heights of the Sierra del Cristal," reminding him that his 
work was as yet but begun. 

Roused from a dreamy reverie by the yells of his men at 
the discovery of a snake, which they killed and ate on the 
spot, Du Chaillu was seeking about the ruins of the village 
for something to satisfy his own hunger, when he saw the 
unmistakable traces of the recent passage of gorillas in 
patches of beaten-down, torn-up, and chewed sugar-cane. 

Joy, he tells us, filled his heart at the sight, and, calling 
his men together, he ordered some to remain and protect 
the women, and others to join him in following the tracks. 
Armed to the teeth, and not daring to speak, for the gorilla 
is keen of hearing and prompt in action, the hunters crept 
cautiously along, descended a hill, crossed a stream on a 
fallen log, forced their way through the dense bush on the 
other side, and were finally rewarded by the sight of four 
young gorillas speeding along on their hind legs, " their 
heads down, their bodies inclined forwards," looking like 
hairy men running for their lives. Fierce, discordant, half- 



244 



A Strange Meeting. 



human, half-devilish cries testified to their alarm and 
distress; but though a perfect volley was fired at them, 
they got off unhurt. 

Feeling rather crestfallen at their ill success, the party 
returned to the camp to find large fires burning as a pro- 
tection from the gorillas, and their supper ready cooked. 
Eefreshed by a night's rest, they made another expedition 
with no better results the next day, and then, provisions 
being exhausted, they were compelled to resume their 
march, a heavy day's tramp along a mere elephant track 
bringing them to a deserted village, where they were 
presently joined by some Mbichos from a neighbouring 
settlement, who had never before seen a white man, and 
expressed the greatest astonishment at Du Chaillu's ap- 
pearance. Plantains were the only food they could spare 
for their famishing guests, but the next day our hero's old 
friend Mbene arrived, who at once set off to a Fan village 
near to obtain provisions. 

Unable to bear the pangs of hunger until Mbene's 
return, Du Chaillu took his gun and started to meet him, 
hoping to be able to shoot something on the way. Giving 
chase to a monkey, which dodged him whenever he took 
aim, he became separated from his escort, and came sud- 
denly face to face with a Fan warrior and two Fan women, 
his wives. Startled at this unexpected apparition, our 
hero was about to beat a retreat, when it dawned upon him 
that the blacks were as much alarmed as himself, and it 
subsequently transpired that they took him for a spirit 
fresh from the sky. Smiling and looking as pleasant as he 
could, he advanced close to the sable warrior, who seemed 
ready to sink into the ground with fright, and at this 
juncture the Mbondemo people came up, mutual explana- 



Du Ckaillu shows his Prowess. 



245 



tions ensued, Du Chaillu gave the women some strings of 
white beads, and the Fan trio went off highly delighted. 
These, the first acquaintances made by a European in Fan 
country, were tall, strong, active-looking people, with skins 
rather less dark than those of their sea-coast neighbours, 
woolly hair drawn out into long thick plaits, high cheek 
bones, prominent lips, and large black deep-set eyes. They 
wore the minimum of clothing — nothing more, in fact, than 
a piece of the soft inside bark of a tree covered with the 
skin of a wild cat or tiger, and hung round the waist. 

The news of the arrival of a white man soon spread 
through the neighbourhood, and Du Chaillu was presently 
mobbed by a crowd of men and women, who touched 
everything he had on, and were especially astonished at 
the appearance of his feet, taking his thick boots for a new 
variety of limb. Being anxious to impress his admirers 
with his power as well as his beauty, and knowing only 
too well that their enthusiasm would not prevent his being 
killed and eaten should opportunity offer — for the Fans are 
undoubtedly cannibals — Du Chaillu shot two swallows on 
the wing in their presence, a feat which they thought 
more wonderful than anything else. At four o'clock, 
much to the weary explorer's delight, he was at last left 
alone, his visitors promising to send him plenty of fowls on 
the morrow. This they did, and, the claims of exhausted 
nature being at last satisfied, our hero lost no time in 
beginning the gorilla-hunting, which was one of the 
secondary objects of his journey. 

The first day one female only was wounded, and escaped, 
but the next, after pushing through a dense and all but 
impenetrable forest, the very home of a huge male was 
reached, and Du Chaillu found himself for the first time 



246 



The Cannibal King. 



face to face with what he calls the * king of the African 
forest." Eising to his full height, nearly six feet, he glared 
upon the intruders with his large deep grey eyes, beating 
his fists upon his breast, and barking like an angry dog. 
Motionless stood Du Chaillu, his gun pointed at the 
enemy's heart ; motionless stood the Mbondemo warriors, 
a little further back, awaiting the onslaught which they 
knew would not long be delayed. Then, as the great 
beast dashed forward, with eyes flashing fire, to stop within 
six yards of his adversaries and utter a fearful roar of 
defiance, the word to fire was given, and with an almost 
human moan he fell forward on his face — dead ! 

A few days after this successful hunt our hero moved 
on, by invitation, to a Fan village, and on his very first 
entrance saw unmistakable evidence of the existence of 
cannibalism in the human remains lying outside the 
houses, and a human thigh carried by a woman as indif- 
ferently as any poor person in London would take home 
the meat purchased at a butcher's. 

Arrived at the palaver-house, Du Chaillu had to wait a 
little time for an audience with the cannibal king, his 
majesty being engaged in superintending the division of a 
human body ; and when his host did arrive, escorted by 
a tumultuous crowd of warriors, he turned out to be a 
savage, ferocious-looking fellow, naked except for the small 
waist garment mentioned above, but tattooed with all 
manner of weird and fantastic designs. With Mbene as 
interpreter, Du Chaillu had a short and not very interesting 
talk with the king, who seemed rather afraid of him, and 
sent his queen to get a lodging ready for him with rather 
more alacrity than politeness. 

Only too glad to get away, the white man was soon 



Horrors of Cannibalism. 



24? 



ensconced in a small bark house with a roof of palm-leaf 
matting, and containing as a bed a rough bamboo frame, 
sleeping on which left him bruised and aching all over. 
The next morning, the first sight which met his eyes on 
opening the door of his hut was a pile of human ribs, leg 
and arm bones, &c, and on taking a short stroll, fresh 
evidences of cannibalism stared him in the face at every 
turn. In spite of all these horrors, however, and the full 
conviction that he might any day himself fall a victim to 
the man-eating propensities of his hosts, the intrepid tra- 
veller remained some weeks in the village, joining in a 
grand elephant-hunt, witnessing a Fan wedding, and 
paying a visit to the neighbouring Osheba tribe, greatly 
resembling the Fans, by whom he was very courteously 
received. He even contemplated penetrating further to 
the east, but he frankly owns that he was deterred by the 
stories, only too likely to be true, which he heard on every 
side of the bloodthirsty character of the cannibal tribes 
through which he would have to pass alone, Mbene being 
unable to accompany him further. He therefore deter- 
mined to make at once for the coast, and after a short trip 
up the Moundah, an important river flowing into the sea 
on the north of the Gaboon, he returned to his old quarters 
there, and chartering a large Mpongwe canoe, he started 
for the Mbata creek, where lay the plantation of a 
Mpongwe chief called King Eompochondo, with whom he 
had long been friends, intending to go from there across 
country to Sangatanga, the head-quarters of the Oroungou 
tribe. 

This programme was fully carried out, and after several 
most interesting hunting excursions in the Oroungou 
prairies, stretching far away to the east, full particulars of 



248 Up the Fernand Vaz. 



which we hope to give in some future work, Du Chaillu 
returned to the Gaboon, where he made a protracted stay, 
increasing still further his knowledge of the ways of the 
Mpongwes, and watching many a vessel from Europe come 
and go, the natives, eager for trading, rushing, canoe in 
hand, to meet each new-comer, while the lonely exile, con- 
quering his home-sickness as best he could, prepared for an 
even more important journey than any yet undertaken. This 
was to the Camma country, beginning to the south of Cape 
Lopez, in lat. 0° 40', and extending as far as the river 
Camma in S. lat. 1° 50'. 

After a somewhat tempestuous voyage down the coast, 
our hero arrived at the mouth of the Fernand Vaz, the 
largest river of the Ogobai delta, and landing at a village 
in the dominions of King Eanpano, after that potentate and 
a neighbouring chief had almost gone to war for the honour 
of entertaining him, he gave out that he had come to trade, 
and had a house built on a beautiful situation a little apart 
from the native huts. On the 13th April he took posses- 
sion of his new home, to which he gave the name of 
Washington, and on the 15th, with an escort of Camma- 
men, whom he had bound to his service by judicious 
bribery, he started up the river Fernand Vaz in a fine 
canoe, for which he had paid some thirty dollars worth of 
goods. Passing between dense tropical forests, tenanted 
by numerous monkeys with white whiskers, and amongst 
huge hippopotami, &c, the party came in a couple of days 
to the important Camma village Aniambia, the river 
running in the earlier part of its course parallel with the 
sea. Here the king, Olengai Yombi, received him with 
every honour, wearing him out with the exhibition of 
dances, &c, an infliction not to be escaped in Western 




ON THE SHORES OF THE FERNAND VAZ. 



Joe Gorilla. 



249 



Africa without giving offence. Then followed the more 
interesting entertainment of hunting, and on his return to 
Washington Du Chaillu found, to his great delight, that a 
young gorilla had been taken alive by his men, a little 
fellow of between two and three years old, two feet six 
inches in height. Hoping «to be able to tame him, his 
master named him Joe, and shut him up in a strong 
bamboo hut built expressly for him, but the poor captive, 
unable to reconcile himself to his confinement, managed to 
force aside the stakes of his prison, and was found con- 
cealed under Du Chaillu's bed. A terrible scene ensued, 
the frightened beast being ready to tear every one who 
approached to pieces, but he was at last secured, and once 
more shut up, only to escape again, just as his master thought 
he was winning his affections by unwearying attentions. 
A third time he was secured, a light chain being now 
fastened to his neck ; but this last indignity was too much 
for him, and he died miserably ten days afterwards. 

Poor Joe Gorilla being dead, Du Chaillu again started 
on his explorations, this time ascending the Nponbounay, 
an important branch of the Ogobai, arriving, after a very 
difficult piece of navigation, at the Lake Anengue, a body 
of water at least ten miles wide, dotted with various beau- 
tiful islands. Ten days were spent in examining the lake 
districts, hunting, and visiting the natives, who belonged to 
the same tribe as the sea-shore Cammi; and then Du 
Chaillu returned to the coast to pay a second visit to the 
same region a little later, when he contracted a fever, 
which kept him prostrate until September was con- 
siderably advanced. Soon after his recovery, he narrowly 
escaped death from poison administered by his cook, a 
native of Sangatanga, who was condemned to death for 
u— (s,a.) 



250 Native killed by a Gorilla. 

this offence by Kanpano, but begged off by Du Chaillu, 
who got his sentence commuted into the infliction of one 
hundred and ten lashes with a whip of hippopotami-hide. 

Early in February, 1858, his health restored after all his 
sufferings, our hero started on a trip up the Eembo, a large 
river joining the Fernand Vaz, near its mouth, to pay a 
visit to King Quengueza of Goumbi, an important village 
some hundred miles from the sea-coast, and from thence 
he made his way in an easterly direction from one village 
to another to the Balakai country — inhabited by roving 
negro tribes, who lead a simple life, possessing no property 
but their wives and slaves, and showing marvellous 
courage in hunting the gorilla — which he scoured again and 
again on many an exciting expedition, including one in 
which a poor native was killed by a gorilla. The actual 
conflict was not witnessed by Du Chaillu, but he came up 
with the victim just before his death, and the man related 
how he had suddenly come face to face with a huge male 
gorilla, who made no attempt to escape, and seemed very 
savage. He fired at a distance of about eight yards, but 
the ball only wounded the animal's side, and, roaring with 
rage, he began beating his breasts, and dashed upon his 
victim, knocking his gun out of his hand, and striking him 
a fearful blow with his open paw, which felled him to the 
ground. The gorilla then seized the gun, wrenched it out 
of all shape, and made off, leaving the native to die. The 
poor fellow lingered on for some days in great agony, and 
then expired. In our illustration we give a scene from 
another struggle with the fierce king of the forest, in 
which the man was the victor, his loaded gun going off in 
the gorilla's face before it could be rendered useless. But 
to tell only half Du Chaillu's experiences in this one trip 



ENCOUNTER WTTH A OOTUT.T.A. 



Incantations to discover Witches. 251 



would be to fill a volume ; we must content ourselves with 
stating that, having made himself well acquainted with 
the ways of the Bakalai tribe, and the natural history of 
their country, he returned to the coast to prepare for yet 
one more trip, this time to Ashira Land and the Apingi 
country, making Goumbi, as before, the starting-point for 
the actual journey into the interior. 

During a short necessary halt made at Goumbi, our hero 
was witness of a terrible execution, proving how savage 
were the hearts of the natives, in spite of their unfailing 
courtesy and kindness towards himself. An old friend of 
his, a sturdy young native named Mpomo, had been taken 
ill during his absence, and died the day after his return. 
Du Chaillu hastened at once to his house, to find his wives 
sitting weeping on the ground, throwing ashes and dust 
over their bodies, shaving their heads, and tearing their 
clothes. Their grief was evidently real, but the day 
after the funeral our hero's feelings of pity for the 
mourners was changed into indignation at the scenes 
which ensued. 

The natives, unable to believe that any but the old 
could die from natural causes, sent for a great doctor from 
a distance to discover who had bewitched Mpomo, and 
caused his death. Two days of frantic excitement were 
succeeded by the assembly of all the inhabitants of the 
village in the market-place to witness the doctor's final 
incantations for disclosing the names of the sorcerers. 
Every man and boy was armed with spears, swords, guns, 
or axes, and on every face was written the lust for blood. 
In vain did Chaillu, who had hitherto generally been able 
to obtain a hearing, lift up his voice in favour of mercy ; 
permission to kill the witches had already been obtained 



252 Condemnation of Okandaga. 



from King Quengueza, and the white man's protests were 
only laughed at. 

Determined to see the end, no matter how awful that 
sight might be, Du Chaillu drew back amongst the gesti- 
culating crowds, and, silence being with great difficulty- 
enforced, he heard the doctor say — ■ 

" There is a very black women, who lives in a house 99 
(here followed its description) ; " she bewitched Mpomo." 

The words had scarcely left his lips when the armed 
natives, leaping and yelling, rushed to the place indicated, 
and brought back a poor girl named Okandaga, sister of a 
guide who had faithfully served Du Chaillu. Bound with 
cords, and with spears waving above her head, she was 
swept down to the river side, catching sight as she passed 
of our hero looking on with horror-struck dismay. 
" Chally, Chally !" she cried, "do not let me die!" and 
for a moment the white man thus appealed to was tempted 
to rush in amongst her murderers and try to rescue her. 
But it would have been useless, and, turning away, he 
owns he shed bitter tears at his own helplessness. 

Okandaga gone, the people waited in eager silence for 
the name of the next victim, and soon a harsh voice again 
rang out, shouting — 

" There is an old woman in a house ; . . . she also 
bewitched Mpomo." 

This time a niece of King Quengueza was seized, a fine 
noble-looking creature, who met her accusers with quiet 
dignity, motioning to them to keep their hands off, and 
saying— 

" I will drink the mboundou, but woe to my accusers if 
I do not die." 

Then she too was taken down to the river, but unbound. 



Execution of the three " Witches!' 253 



A third time silence fell upon the multitude, and a third 
time the doctor's voice proclaimed the name of a sorceress, 
singling out a poor woman with six children, one of Quen- 
gueza's slaves. 

The unhappy trio now awaited their doom upon the 
river bank, and the doctor having recited their crimes, 
calling upon the people to curse them, they were put into 
a canoe with the executioners, the doctor, and some others, 
all armed. 

The tom-toms or native drums were then beaten, and 
the mboundou was prepared. The cup was held by Quabi, 
Mpomo's eldest brother, and at sight of it Okandaga wept, 
and even Quengueza's niece grew pale. First the old 
slave woman, then the royal lady, and lastly Okandaga 
drank, the people shouting — 

" If they are witches, let the mboundou kill them ; if 
they are innocent, let the mboundou go out." 

A few moments of expectant silence ensued, and then 
the slave fell down. Before life was extinct the execu- 
tioners fell upon her, and hacked off her head. Next 
came Quengueza's niece, and lastly Okandaga, their blood 
dyeing the waters of the river for some distance. The 
awful tragedy was terminated by the cutting up of the 
bodies into small pieces and strewing them on the river. 

In the evening the guide Adouma, brother of the haples3 
Okandaga, came to Du Chaillu, and poured out all his 
grief and horror. He had been obliged to take part in the 
awful scene, to curse his sister himself, or he would have 
had to share her fate, and now his heart misgave him. 

Our hero did his best to comfort him, telling him of the 
true God to whom Okandaga's spirit was gone, and the 
poor fellow said at last, " Oh, Chally ! when you go back 



254 



In Ashira Land. 



to your far country, let them send men to us poor people 
to teach us from that which you call God's mouth " (the 
Bible). 

As may be imagined, Du Chaillu left Goumbi with 
little regret, the scene above described having thoroughly 
sickened and disgusted him. The last day of October, 
1859, found him entering Ashira Land, a prairie-like 
district shut in by a triple range of mountains, where he 
was enthusiastically welcomed by King Olenda, who at 
once gave him a public reception in his principal town. 
The royal host himself was " an old, old man, with wool as 
white as snow, face a mass of wrinkles, and body thin, 
lean, and bent almost double with age." One cheek was 
painted red, the other white ; and after staring at his guest 
for a few minutes, he made this extraordinary speech — s 
always, it appears, addressed to strangers in Ashira Land — 
" I am like the Ovenga river. I cannot be cut in two. 
But also I am like the Niembai and Ovenga rivers, which 
unite together. Thus my body is united, and nothing can 
divide it." 

The meaning of this gibberish, if meaning there were, 
Du Chaillu never made out, but he was much impressed 
with the scene which followed, the king's eldest son, also 
an old man with white hair, presenting him with two 
slaves, three goats, twenty bunches of plantains, twenty 
fowls, five baskets of ground nuts, and several bunches of 
sugar-cane, whilst all the other sons, full-grown sturdy 
fellows, and the villagers, numbering some thousands, 
looked on in wondering silence, convinced that a spirit had 
come amongst them from the unseen world. 

Having visited several of the neighbouring villages, 
creating the greatest consternation wherever he appeared, 



The "Spirit" leaves Ashira Land. 255 

for never before had a white man been seen, Du Chaillu 
ascended the Eembo Ngouyai up to within sight of the 
vapour rising from a magnificent cataract, formed by its 
waters as it flings itself over a defile in the Nkoomo- 
naboulai range, one of the three mentioned above as 
enclosing Ashira Land ; but he dared not risk too near an 
approach in his light canoe. A little later he made a short 
excursion to the Ofoubou, Andele, and Orere mountains 
on the south, and, returning safely, he obtained with con- 
siderable difficulty permission to travel further east, and 
on December 6th started for the Apingi country, Olenda 
sending some of his sons with him, and blessing him 
earnestly before taking leave. The common people, who 
had become much attached to their spirit, treasured up 
the hairs which had fallen to the ground when his servant 
Makondai trimmed his beard and locks, intending to make 
fetiches of them which should bring other white men to 
their country; and even the slaves, who had fled at his 
approach under the belief that he had come to fetch them 
to be fattened for consumption on the coast, seem to have 
regretted his departure. They evidently scarcely expected 
to see him again, their notions of the geography even of 
their own boundary districts being of the vaguest. 

A tramp across a swamp, a perilous climb along a rope 
bridge over the roaring Ovigni river, brought our hero into 
a rugged and mountainous country, covered with dense 
forests, haunted by gorillas, whose fearful roars, to which 
the explorer tells us he never became accustomed, alone 
broke the awful stillness. Beyond that again came a high 
table-land, forming the entry to the Alpine-like range 
running eastwards for a distance not yet determined from 
the Balakai country ; and on the 10th December, as the 



256 



A Strange Gift. 



party were passing through a dense wood, they suddenly 
arrived at the encampment of Eemandjii, the king of the 
Apingi tribe, a fine-looking old negro, who immediately 
began to skip and jump in a very undignified manner, 
crying, " The spirit has come to see me ! the spirit has 
come to see me I" 

When his majesty's excitement subsided a little, Du 
Chaillu asked him to direct him to the next village, and, 
following the instructions obtained, with some difficulty he 
came to a magnificent stream called the Eembo Apingi, 
some three hundred and fifty yards wide. Eafts and 
canoes were at once put off from the opposite side, and he 
was triumphantly escorted by Apingi boatmen to their 
principal town, where a hut was immediately assigned to 
him. Here he was soon visited by Eemandjii and the chiefs 
from the neighbouring villages, who astonished him by 
presenting him with a slave, bound, ready for execution, 
with the words — ■ 

" Be glad, spirit ! and eat of the things we give 
thee !" " Kill him for your evening meal,' , added Ee- 
mandjii ; " he is tender and fat, and you must be hungry." 

Shaking his head and spitting on the ground to show 
his disgust, Du Chaillu made his host understand that he 
could not oblige him in this particular, and with some 
reluctance the w T hite visitor's prejudices were humoured. 
He was allowed to sup off fowls and plantains, Eemandjii 
tasting everything first lest it should have been poisoned. 

Du Chaillu describes the Apingi as a savage-looking, 
yellowish-black race, with the usual woolly hair, broad 
nostrils, and thick lips, and much the same superstitions 
respecting death, witchcraft, &c, as their neighbours of 
Ashira Land. After he had been amongst them but a few 



The "Spirit" elected King. 257 



days, and had excited much wonder by his powers of 
writing, &c., he was surprised at being urged by thirty of 
the great chiefs, with Eemandjii at their head, to be their 
king. " Spirit, you are our king," said their spokesman. 
" You have come to our country to do us good. You can 
do everything. Now make us a pile of beads as high as 
the highest tree in the village, that we and our women and 
children may go and take as much as we wish." 

His refusal to accomplish this impossible feat was con- 
sidered unkind, but he could not convince them of his 
powerlessness, and on the 18th he was formally invested 
by Eemandjii, in the presence of an immense crowd, with 
the insignia of royalty, and from that time till his return 
home he was treated with all, and more than all, the 
honour due to a native potentate. But not even this dis- 
tinction could reconcile him to a further protracted exile. 
He made, it is true, another unsuccessful attempt to 
reach the Falls of Samba Nagoshi, and learnt beyond all 
reasonable doubt the fact already suspected of the junction 
further north of the Eembo Ngouyai and the Eembo 
Okando ; but on the very eve of a trip into Ashango Land, 
an attack of fever so completely prostrated him, that he 
resolved, as soon as he could walk, to return to Europe. 

Of the journey back to Eemandjii's he retained but a 
faint remembrance, and, arrived there, he lost no time in 
explaining that he must resign his royal dignity, and go. 
" We are sorry," said his subjects ; " but as it is the will 
of the spirit, we must submit. Wait, however, that we 
may get him food, that he may not be hungry by the 
way." 

Plantains, fowls, &c, were then brought to him ; he was 
requested to keep his kondo, or insignia of royalty, that he 



258 Start on a new Journey. 



might be master again when he came back, and bidding 
his simple friends farewell, he started for the coast, arriving 
in the Gaboon early in June. 

On the publication of Du Chaillu's account of his ex- 
periences in this eventful journey, a perfect storm of accu- 
sation arose against him. His visit to Ashira Land and 
discovery of the Ngouyai river were spoken of as pure 
inventions, and his descriptions of the gorilla, the nest- 
building ape, &c, were laughed at as wildly exaggerated. 
In 1862, however, a French Government expedition, under 
Messrs. Serval and Griffon du Bellay, and two years later 
Messrs. Albigot and Fouchard, ascended the Ogobai for 
some distance, confirming in the main all their great pre- 
decessor's statements, converting his adverse critics into 
admiring friends, and encouraging him to undertake a new 
journey in 1863-65, in which he penetrated still further 
into the interior than before, and fixed with scientific 
accuracy the geographical position of places discovered in 
his former explorations. He tells us that he also cherished 
a secret hope, unfortunately not realised, of reaching in 
the far interior " some unknown western tributary of the 
Nile, and to descend by it to the great river, and thence 
to the Mediterranean. 

On this new journey Du Ohaillu arrived off the Oamma 
coast on the 8th October, 1863, and on the morning of 
the 10th of the same month at the mouth of the Fernand 
Vaz. Two canoes were put off from shore as soon as his 
vessel was sighted, in one of which he recognised an old 
negro friend named Adjonatonga, who exclaimed on seeing 
him — 

" Are you Chaillie, or are you his spirit ? Have you 
come from the dead ? Tell me quick, for I don't know 



Loss of Instruments. 



259 



whether I am to believe my own eyes ; perhaps I am 
getting a kende (fool). 

Assured of Da Chaillu's identity, the warm-hearted 
native flung his arms round his neck and hugged him in a 
transport of joy ; and as soon as this rather too warm 
greeting was over, came a nephew of our old acquaintance, 
Chief Eanpano, whose enthusiasm at the white man's return 
was equally great. 

After a somewhat perilous paddle from his vessel to the 
shore in one of the frail canoes, Du Chaillu landed amongst 
a crowd of gesticulating and yelling natives, frantic with 
joy at his return, and was escorted up the river to his old 
home of Washington, which he found in ruins, a few 
loose bamboos and rotting poles alone remaining. 

Having determined to fix his new quarters about two 
miles above the site of " Washington," our hero returned to 
the schooner to superintend the disembarkation of his out- 
fit and goods, hoping almost immediately to begin his 
explorations. But, alas ! the canoe in which he and the 
captain of the schooner embarked with all the valuable 
scientific instruments was upset, and though, thanks to 
the eager devotion of the natives, the two white men 
escaped with their lives, those of the instruments which 
were recovered were rendered useless by the salt water. 
There was nothing for it but to wait until others could be 
obtained from England, and, resigning himself to the delay 
as best he could, Du Chaillu employed the interval in 
excursions in the neighbourhood of the Fernand Vaz, visit- 
ing his former host Quengueza and numerous petty chiefs, 
whom he persuaded to bring the produce of their territories 
to the coast to be sold to Captain Vardon. 

On the 1st November a young male chimpanzee about 



260 Du Chaillu at a Palaver. 



three years old was brought to him by a negro, who had 
caught him on the banks of the Npoulounay. The little 
fellow, whom Du Chaillu christened Thomas, proved 
tractable though mischievous, and was sent to England in 
Captain Vardon's ship. He lived for some years in the 
Crystal Palace, but perished in the great fire of 1867. 

On the 18th January, 1864, the schooner which had 
brought Du Chaillu to the Fernand Vaz sailed for England, 
the first vessel loaded entirely with the produce of the 
Camma country, and on the 28th September of the same 
year, fresh instruments having at last arrived, our hero was 
able to complete his preparations for his journey into the 
interior. Only with great difficulty had he been able to 
obtain permission to travel — a law having been passed 
during his absence forbidding any one from the coast to 
enter Ashira Land. His tact at a grand palaver held to 
discuss the subject, however, won an exception in his 
favour. He did not want to trade, but to shoot animals 
and bring away their skins. "Truly," said the native 
speakers at last, " we do not know what our Chaillie has 
in his stomach to want such things, but we must let him 
go." Orders were given for his protection, and the king 
sent some of his own slaves with him as an escort. 

On the 14th October, the party, consisting of Du Chaillu 
. himself, his boy Makondai, his hunter and right-hand man 
Igala, a strapping negro called Eebouka, and some half- 
dozen slaves, all wearing thick canvas trousers, blue woollen 
shirts, and worsted caps, arrived at Goumbi, where Quen- 
gueza received them right royally, and announced his 
intention of accompanying them to Ashira Land. This 
decision caused some further delay, and Du Chaillu was 
obliged to resort to an artifice to get his host to move. Telling 



Back again at Olenda. 261 



Makondai to take his bed to a shed some distance from 
Goumbi, he retired there to sleep, pretending to be too 
deeply offended to remain any longer as a guest in 
Quengueza's village. This ruse had the desired effect, for 
at nightfall the old king came in person to make it up, 
but our hero declined to be reconciled until he had exacted 
a promise of immediate departure. 

Early the next morning, October 28th, the beating of 
the kendo, or royal bell, announced the breaking up of the 
negro camp, and by nightfall the motley group had reached 
the junction of the Membai and Ovenga. On the 29th 
the course of the Ovenga was followed, and towards evening 
the village of Obindji was entered, no adventure having 
occurred but the breaking through of a fence set up across 
the river by the Bakalai to prevent the entrance of the 
intruders into their country. Quengueza's rage at such an 
obstacle to the progress of the " king of the Bembo," as he 
styled himself, was unbounded, but it did not interfere 
with a cordial meeting on the morrow between him and 
Obindji, a Bakalai chief with whom Du Chaillu was already 
acquainted. Porters for the trip into Ashira Land were 
readily promised, but not so easily obtained, and some days 
were passed as the guests of Obindji before there was any 
prospect of starting. On the 8th November, however, the 
heavy luggage was sent forward, and on the 17th Quen- 
gueza and Du Chaillu followed, paddling up the Ofoubou, 
a tributary of the Ovenga, for three hours and a-half, and 
then marching across country in a south-easterly direction, 
over wild undulating districts, till they emerged on Novem- 
ber 19th in the prairies of Ashira Land. At 2 p.m. of the 
same day the town of Olenda was entered, amid much 
hubbub and firing of guns. 



262 



Encounter with Gorillas. 



The old king, Olenda, who has already been described, 
welcomed Du Chaillu back with enthusiasm, declaring that 
he " loved him like a sweetheart/' though proving himself 
anything but a disinterested admirer. So covetous indeed 
did he become, that his guest said to him at last, " I thought 
you only loved me as a sweetheart, but I am afraid you 
love me for my goods." " Oh, no !" was the smiling rejoinder, 
" I love you like a sweetheart for yourself, but I love your 
goods also." 

On this journey Du Chaillu's main object in passing 
through Ashira Land was to visit the Falls of Samba Nagoshi, 
which he had already made two abortive attempts to reach, 
and, well provided by Olenda with guides and porters, he 
started on this interesting excursion on the 1st December. 

Following a north-easterly direction, he quickly reached 
the Ovigni river, and crossing it with great difficulty by 
means of a single tree-trunk thrown carelessly over its 
foaming waters, he began a weary march along the 
western foot of the hilly range shutting in Ashira Land, 
through an almost impenetrable forest, to the Opangano 
prairie, a little beyond which he came to the first Bakalai 
village. Passing through its single street, with a gate at 
either end and houses with no doors in the outer walls, our 
hero passed on in a north-easterly direction till he came to 
the wild Lambengue prairie, succeeded by a dense forest, 
where, marching somewhat in advance of his party, he 
surprised a group of some ten gorillas in a single tree. 

With nothing in his hand but a walking-stick, and 
feeling discretion to be the better part of valour, our hero 
was about to beat a retreat, when his men coming up 
altered the aspect of affairs ; the gorillas, who were hurrying 
down to the attack of a single enemy, uttered wild cries of 



The Ravages of Famine. 



263 



fright, and disappeared in the thick jungle. The negroes 
rushed after them with their guns, but were unable even to 
bring down one. 

On the 4th December the so-called Kamba district was 
entered, where the natives, called Ashira Kambas, gave their 
visitors a hearty welcome, and directed them to their chief 
village, called Dihaou. Here the king, Dihaou Okamba, 
treated him very generously, giving him a goat in exchange 
for a few trifling presents, and providing him with a canoe 
for the voyage up the Eembo. This canoe, it was true, was 
leaky and rotten, but it was probably the best the country 
could produce, and, leaving all the property he could dis- 
pense with in Dihaou's care, Du Chaillu embarked in it on 
the 7th December, on the Great or Ngouyai Eembo, for 
the last stage of his journey to the falls. 

The first white man to visit the country between Ashira 
Land and the mountains inhabited by different Aviia tribes, 
Du Chaillu's approach caused the immediate evacuation of 
every village, and only with great difficulty were the 
inhabitants coaxed back to their homes and induced to 
supply their visitors with food. Everywhere famine had 
been doing its ghastly work, and in one miserable hut our 
hero was shocked to see an old woman, a mere skeleton, 
left to die alone. She was infirm and useless ; why should 
any of the small store of food left be given to her? urged the 
men to whom he expressed his horror. 

On the 10th December, finding the river no longer 
navigable, Du Chaillu started on foot for the falls with an 
Aviia guide, and after an exciting march through dense 
jungle, across small tributaries of the Kgouyai, some so 
deep as to involve swimming, he came at last in view of 
the object of his journey. The stream, he tells us, just 
x — (s.a.) 



264 Small-pox among the Natives. 

above the falls is 150 yards wide, but a rocky island in 
the middle, covered with trees, divides the water in two 
unequal parts, only one of which can be seen at a time. 
The right hand fall, some seventy yards wide, rushes down a 
steep incline inimmense volume, but theleft is comparatively 
insignificant. The right, on the whole, though grand and 
wild, was not in fact so impressive as our hero had expected, 
and he found the less important rapids lower down more 
beautiful. Still he had achieved the object of his journey ; 
he had seen the great Samba Nagoshi Falls ; and having 
determined their latitude and longitude, &c, and ascended 
in a frail canoe " part of the river difficult to navigate," he 
turned his face southwards, getting back to Olenda about 
the 22nd December. 

Eager now to pursue his course eastwards, Du Chaillu 
lost not one moment in pressing forward his preparations, 
but before he was able to start a terrible calamity over- 
took Ashira Land, involving not only serious delay, but 
personal danger to the explorer. This was the breaking 
out of small-pox, a disease never before known amongst the 
natives. Elanga, one of Olenda's nephews, was the first to 
fall a victim, and being in Du Chaillu's service, suspicions 
of witchcraft having been exercised by the white man were 
at once aroused. A few days later, two other cases occurred, 
also amongst our hero's servants, and when he separated the 
survivors from those whom he thought infected, giving 
them strict orders to keep away from the places where the 
disease had broken out, public opinion ran high against 
him. He was boldly accused of having introduced the 
eviva (plague), of having brought death instead of the pro- 
mised good to the people, of having killed Eemandjii, who 
had died since his last visit to Apingi Land, &c, &c. 



Devotion of Quengueza. 



265 



But for Quengueza's and Olenda's faithfulness, things 
might have gone badly with Du Ohaillu, for a word from 
either of them would have fanned the smouldering fire into 
a flame, and another fearful execution would have taken 
place, with the once-beloved " spirit" as the central figure. 
Fortunately, Quengueza became very angry at the sus- 
picions of " his white man," asking the people whether he, 
the king, who held the passage of the Eembo, had come 
with him into the bush amongst these pigs of Ashira to be 
cursed ? This protest was seconded by Olenda, who held 
his royal guest in great respect, and sent round at his 
suggestion to the neighbouring villages to try and collect 
porters, guides, &c. 

Before they could assemble, however, the plague acquired 
fearful proportions, Olenda's head wife was struck down, 
several of the mourners who had been to Elanga's funeral 
followed, and in a few days half the people of Olenda were 
lying at death's door. Alarmed for the safety of his good 
old friend Quengueza, Du Chaillu urged him to return to 
Goumbi, but he replied, "Chaillie, I cannot go back. I 
came here to see you through this country, and I should 
feel shame to leave you in your troubles. What would the 
Cammi people say ? They would laugh at me, and say 
Quengueza had no power to help Chaillie on his way. No, 
I shall not leave you." 

Soon after this, a favourite little slave boy belonging to 
Quengueza was taken ill, and, in spite of Du Chaillu's 
remonstrances, his master nursed him himself in his own 
hut with the gentleness and tenderness of a woman. 
Touched to the heart, in spite of his fear of the con- 
sequences, by this proof of the old negro's noble nature, 
Du Chaillu made one more effort to get him to return to 



266 Death of Quengueza. 



his own land, and succeeded in persuading him to send all 
his subjects back, though he himself remained until his 
white man was actually, as he thought, on the eve of 
starting for the east. But when the last of the Goumbi 
escort had left Olenda, the ravages of the small-pox 
increased, and soon the king himself sickened and died. 
As Du Chaillu sat by his bedside just before his end, he 
said — 

" Do not grieve, Chaillie, it is not your fault ; you have 
not caused my illness. I know it." 

Afraid that Olenda's subjects would not take the same 
view of the matter, our hero prepared, as best he could, 
to bear the storm of suspicion he felt confident would 
ensue. But he was mistaken ; his evident sorrow at the 
death of his old host touched the hearts of the mourners, 
who came to him soon afterwards to assure him of their 
protection now the head of their clan was gone. Thus 
relieved from the dread of a violent death, Du Chaillu con- 
tinued his efforts to get away, but several weeks of suspense 
and anxiety had still to be endured; Ashira Land was 
reduced to a desert, famine succeeded the plague, and not 
until the 16th March, after he had seen one after another 
of his faithful followers die, was the journey to the east 
actually begun. Even then it was under anything but 
promising auspices, the porters engaged, unlike their 
Gammi predecessors, being ready to take advantage of 
their master at every turn. Only two of the men who had 
come from the coast were able to start with the party for 
the east, but later, the boy Makondai, who was supposed 
to be dying of small-pox when his master left him, 
recovered, and joined his comrades. 

Pursuing a more southerly direction than on his former 



A Prairie on Fire. 



267 



journey, Du Chaillu, after many difficulties from the 
dishonesty of his Ashira porters, arrived in safety at 
Mayolo, an important village of Otando Land, early in 
April, but he had not long been there when the chief was 
taken ill. This was embarrassing, for, should he die, further 
progress would be impossible, as the negroes would certainly 
have driven away the man at whose coming their head men 
were thus stricken down. To add to the visitor's troubles, 
a conflagration of the prairie round the village took place 
immediately afterwards, but the fire was checked in time 
to save his goods, and Mayolo recovered, not, however, 
without suspicion of witchcraft again falling on the 
" spirit." A grand palaver was held, in which Du Chaillu 
was put on his trial, and, thanks to the friendship of 
Mayolo, came off with glowing colours, the chief winding 
up a long oration by shouting, with repeated blows on his 
chest to give force to his words — 

" Here I am alive ; they said I should die because the 
spirit had come, but here I am" 

After this Mayolo bestirred himself very heartily in the 
" spirit's" behalf, sending messengers to his neighbour of 
Apono Land, announcing the approach of "his white man," 
getting porters, &c, and on the 30th May all was at last 
ready for the further march eastwards. Escorted by his 
host and about thirty men, Du Chaillu now crossed the 
open grass land of Otando, and, ascending a hill belonging to 
the Nomba Obana range, obtained an extensive view of 
the mountainous and wooded districts inhabited by the 
Ishogo, Ashango, and other tribes. Then, going down into 
a village on the borders of Apono Land, he entered a part 
of the country never before visited by a European. The 
people fled at his approach, crying, "The Oguizi (the 



268 



A Hostile Demonstration. 



spirit) 1 the Oguizi 1 He has come, and we shall die." The 
small-pox had already decimated their homes; now the 
white man had come to complete their desolation. 

Gradually, however, Mayolo calmed the fears of the 
natives, and by going from house to house, distributing 
beads, Du Chaillu convinced them that he was not only 
harmless but useful, The chief, Nchiengain by name, 
became in fact so far reconciled to his guest as to persuade 
Mayolo to allow him to join the travelling party, promising 
himself to escort the a spirit" over the Eembo or Upper 
Ngouyai. This passage, always difficult, was rendered 
specially arduous on this occasion by the lowness of the 
water, but the evening of June 3rd found our hero safely 
on the other side, though Nchiengain failed him at the 
last moment by getting tipsy and declining to stir from a 
village hard by. 

At six a.m. the next morning, Nchiengain having become 
sober and crossed the Eembo alone, Eastern Apono Land 
was entered, and at half-past eight the first Ishogo villages, 
built in the ordinary native style in an open grassy space, 
were passed, some of the chiefs trying hard to detain Du 
Chaillu amongst them, and declaring that it was too bad 
for Mayolo and Nchiengain to monopolise him. 

At Dilolo, the next village reached, a very dubious 
reception was given to the travellers. The entrance to the 
village was barricaded and guarded by all the fighting 
men, armed with spears, bows, arrows, and sabres, who 
cursed Nchiengain for bringing the Oguizi carrying with 
him the eviva or plague into their country, and declining to 
give him permission to enter. Anxious to avoid an 
encounter, the travellers turned off into a path leading 
round the village, but they were met by a fresh body of 



The Dwarf O bongo Race. 269 



natives, who drew their bows ready to fire. The Cammi 
men, who from the first had behaved with admirable 
pluck, gathered round their master, and the lad Eapelina 
pointed his gun in the face of one sturdy fellow, telling 
him he would be a dead man if he let fly his arrow. This 
demonstration was immediately effective, the Ishogo 
warriors drew back, yelling and gesticulating, and the 
little caravan passed on unmolested, Nchiengain shouting 
from the rear that there would be a grand palaver to settle 
for this when he returned. 

Similar difficulties occurred in the more easterly villages, 
and again and again Du Chaillu owed his life to the protec- 
tion of Nchiengain, who, when sober, proved himself a man 
of considerable tact and savoir /aire. This was the more 
fortunate, as at the Apono village of Mokaba poor Mayolo 
was taken so seriously ill as to be compelled to remain 
behind, and as the party penetrated further and further 
into the unexplored interior, the people became more sus- 
picious and travelling more arduous. One range of moun- 
tains succeeded another, one village after another sent out 
its crowd of Aponos or Ishogos to stare at and interrogate 
the white man, but his guides remained faithful, and his 
own courage never failed. Ishogo Land, with its well- 
watered prairies and densely-wooded hills, its well-built 
towns and sturdy inhabitants, was traversed in safety, and 
the end of June found our hero entering Ashango Land, 
the most easterly province explored, where he made 
acquaintance with the curious dwarf tribe known as 
Obongos, living in low oval diminutive huts, and keeping 
themselves apart from all intercourse with their fellow- 
countrymen, the true Ashangos, a race differing in language, 
but in little else, from their neighbours the Ishogo. 



270 



A Fatal Accident. 



An unfortunate accident alone prevented Du Chaillu 
from realising his dream of returning home by way of 
Abyssinia and Egypt. He had penetrated as far as the 
village of Monaou Kombo in the east of Ashango Land, he 
had quelled a dangerous mutiny amongst his porters, he 
had overcome the reluctance of the natives to allow him to 
proceed, and persuaded them that he meant no harm to 
anyone, when his man Igala accidentally let off his gun 
and killed an Ashango. The effect was electric and in- 
stantaneous. The war drums began to beat, and the chief 
shouted indignantly, " You say you do not come here to do 
us harm, and do not kill people ; is not this the dead body 
of a man ?" 

No more hope now of further progress, scarcely any of 
escape with life. Knowing that hundreds of natives armed 
with spears, poisoned arrows, &c, would be upon him in a 
few minutes, Du Chaillu called his men hastily together, 
loaded them with his most valuable possessions, and with 
the words, " Now, boys, keep together ; do not be afraid. 
. . . Let us try our best, and we may reach the sea in 
safety," he prepared to sound the retreat should the worst 
come to the worst. 

For one moment there seemed to be a chance of 
peace. Igala had explained that the man had been killed 
by accident, and that his master would pay the value 
of twenty men in goods. The war drums ceased to beat^ 
a headman cried, "A palaver, a palaver!" but before Du 
Chaillu had time to hope, a woman came rushing out of a 
hut declaring that her husband also had been killed by the 
fatal bullet, which, after passing through the head of the 
negro, had pierced the thin wall of her hut. 

It was too true ! A general shout of war was raised, and 



A Race for Life. 



271 



every warrior rushed for his weapon. The order was given 
for retreat, and away went the little band — first Igala, then 
his Cammi comrades, then Du Chaillu himself. Not a 
moment too soon ! Showers of arrows were discharged 
even before they left the village. Makondai and Eebouka 
were all but transfixed by spears, Igala was hit in the leg, 
and Du Chaillu on the hand. But on, on they sped, their 
blood dyeing the path behind them, and closer and closer 
came the pursuers. One load after another was flung 
down, one man after another staggered as some well-aimed 
missile quivered in his flesh. A second arrow struck Du 
Chaillu in the side, causing exquisite agony, but at last a 
little stream near the village of Mobana was crossed, and 
the fugitives managed to elude the enemy by striking into 
a secluded forest path. One negro alone was left behind, 
but as his comrades were resting for a few moments and 
trying to stanch the blood from their wounds, he came up 
unhurt, with the good news that the natives had determined 
to follow no longer — so many of their men had fallen 
already, "they should all be killed one by one if they 
went on." 

Cheered by this good news the fugitives pressed on, and 
after many a narrow escape they got back to Ishogo Land, 
where they were eagerly welcomed and entertained by 
friends made on the journey up. Mayolo and Nchiengain 
could scarcely believe their ears when they heard of the 
flight without the loss of a single man from the poisoned 
arrows and spears of the dreaded Ashangos, and the 
remainder of our hero's progress to the coast was one long 
triumph. Avoiding Olenda, where he had suffered so 
terribly, he made his way across country to Goumbi, and 
thence to his own little settlement on the Fernand Vaz, 



272 Du Chaillus Successors. 



arriving there on the 21st September, 1865. Here he took 
a most touching farewell of the faithful Cammi with whom 
he had seen and suffered so much, and six days later set 
sail for Europe, having considerably supplemented the 
geographical and ethnological discoveries of his previous 
journey by his researches in Ishogo and Ashango Land, 
escaping as many if not more perils than any other previous 
hero of African exploration, either north or south. 

The accuracy of Du Chaillu's statements and observa- 
tions was at first seriously questioned ; but the researches 
of Bastian, Monteiro, and Burton, soon after the return 
home of the discoverer of Gorilla Land, confirmed his 
statements in every particular, and the more recent journeys 
of Cameron and Stanley have failed to throw any doubt 
upon even the most startling assertions of the distinguished 
Frenchman. 



CHAPTEE IX. 



Livingstone's last journey and death. 

New Expedition resolved on — Arrival at Zanzibar — Across Country to the 
Nyassa — Desertion of Sepoys — Arrival on the Shores of the Lake — 
No Canoes — Kound the South of the Lake by Land — Humours of 
Murder of Arabs— Desertion of Johanna Men — Report of Livingstone's 
Death — Search Expedition under Young— "Westwards — The Mazitu — 
To the North for Tanganyika — Further Desertions and Loss of Medicine 
Chest — Fever — Arrival at Tanganyika — Lake Moero on the "West- 
Attempt to reach it frustrated — Chance of returning home declined 
— Off for Lake Moero at last—Arrival on its Shores exhausted — Down 
the Lake to Cazembe's — Rumours of another Lake on the South — 
Start for the South with Mohammed Mograbin — Horrors of the 
Slave-trade — Guides for the Lake at last — Discovery of Lake 
Bangweolo — To the Island of Mbalala — Mutiny of Crew — Compelled 
to turn back — War and Rumours of War — Flight to the North with 
the Arabs — Back to Tanganyika, and awful Sufferings by the Way — 
Across the Lake to Ujiji — Back again to the Western Shores — Start 
for Manyuema with Arab Slave-traders — Delay at Bambarre — Arbi- 
trary Proceedings of the Arabs— A Trip to the North — Desertion of 
all the Men but five — Return to Bambarre, and long Delay there with 
Bad Feet — The Disease of Heart-brokenness — Arrival of Men from 
the Coast, and Fresh Start for the Lualaba— Arrival at Nyangwe— 
Awful Massacre of Native Women — Livingstone determines to return 
— An Ambush and Narrow Escape — Cannibalism — Arrival at Ujiji in an 
Exhausted State — Stores, &c, Stolen — Despair — Opportune Arrival of 
Stanley — Stanley's Journey from Zanzibar — Trip with Stanley to the 
North of Tanganyika— To Unyanyembe with Stanley — Parting with 
Stanley — Return alone to Unyanyembe— Long and Dreary Waiting 
there — Arrival of Stanley's Men — Start for the South- West — Round 
the Southern Extremity of Tanganyika — Across Country to Bangweolo 
— Terrible Sufferings amongst the Sponges and Marshes — Across the 
Chambeze or Lualaba at last — Serious Illness — Livingstone is carried 
on the Shoulders of his Men— Rapidly-increasing Weakness— A Litter 
is made — The Last Service— The last few miles of March — Arrival at 
Chitambo's — Erection of Hut — Last Words— Death— Susi and Chumah 



274 New Explorers called for. 

chosen Captains — Preservation of Livingstone's Body — The Burial 
Service Read— The Corpse Packed for Travelling— The Return March 
to the North-East — Meeting with Cameron at Unyanyembe — To the 
Coast with Dr. Dillon and Lieutenant Murphy — Suicide of Dillon- 
Arrival at Bagamoyo— Embarkation of Corpse for England— Funeral in 
Westminster Abbey. 

To avoid confusion, it will be well to state here that the Congo is 
called the Chambeze till it enters Lake Bangweolo, the Lualapa from that 
lake to Lake Moero, whence it issues as the Lualaba, flowing under that 
name to Nyangwe, where it becomes the Zingatmi until it reaches the 
Falls now named after Stanley, when it is known as the Congo. The whole 
river was, however, re-named the Livingstone by Stanley, but will probably 
be henceforth known under the original title of Congo. 

THE excitement caused in England by Livingstone's 
account of all that he had seen and done in his second 
great journey was intense. Philanthropists were aghast at 
his revelations of the horrors resulting from the slave- 
trade. Men of science were eager to ascertain if the 
lakes of the south were connected with those of Central 
Africa, and, if so, by what means. One and all felt that 
the work begun must be carried on at whatever cost. Mis- 
sionary societies prepared to send out members of their 
body to attack the gigantic evil of the traffic in human 
flesh and blood at its very root, by converting to Chris- 
tianity the chiefs who rendered it possible by selling their 
subjects. On every side arose a cry for new men, willing 
to risk their lives in the common cause of humanity and 
geographical discovery. With the missionaries who re- 
sponded to this appeal we have not now to deal, though 
we are glad to be able to add that many colonies of 
earnest preachers of the gospel are now at work on the 
shores of the various lakes. Our task is merely to trace 
the further progress of the solution of the great problems 
of African geography, and it is with feelings of mingled 
joy and regret that we resume our narrative of the career 



Livingstone again chosen Leader \ 275 

of the greatest of all our heroes. We rejoice that Living- 
stone was spared to add yet another chapter to geographical 
science ; we bitterly regret that our gain has been purchased 
at the cost of a life so valuable as his, and that recent 
years have seen the heroes of missionary effort and of 
geographical exploration replaced by great fighting expedi- 
tions, the march of which must of necessity be attended 
with fresh suffering to the unhappy natives of the districts 
traversed. 

On his return to England in 1864, the great explorer 
would fain have retired from active service, and spent the 
evening of his life in settling the pecuniary affairs of his 
family. When asked by his friend Sir Eoderick Murchison 
to name a leader for a new expedition to resolve the problem 
of the watershed between the Nyassa and Tanganyika, 
Livingstone at once fixed upon an eminent traveller, who, 
however, declined to undertake the mission because no 
sufficient remuneration was offered for his services, and in 
his disappointment Sir Eoderick appealed to Livingstone 
himself. Why could not he, who had already done so 
much, undertake this one more journey ? 

For a moment our hero hesitated, urging all the reasons 
against the undertaking of fresh responsibility by a man of 
the advanced age of fifty-three, who was already worn out 
by the fatigues of two previous journeys, each extending 
over several years. Before the interview closed, however, 
Livingstone had consented to start for Zanzibar as soon as 
his book on the Zambesi was published. 

For this new expedition the English Government sub- 
scribed £500, the Eoyal Geographical Society £500, 
and a private friend £1000. Its main object was to 
explore the country between the Nyassa and Tangan- 



276 Preparations at Zanzibar. 



yika, with a view to determining the relation of the two 
lakes to each other, but from first to last Livingstone 
never lost sight of the question — to him of equal im- 
portance—of the best means for lessening the evils of 
the slave-trade. 

Our hero left England for the third and last time on the 
14th August, 1865, scarcely more than a year after his 
return home from his Zambesi journey, and arrived at 
Zanzibar on the 28th January, 1866. He proposed pene- 
trating to the Nyassa by way of the Eovuma Eiver and 
those districts on the east of the lake inhabited by the 
dreaded Ajawa, but, except for this mere outline of a plan, 
he determined to be guided by circumstances, knowing 
from many a provoking experience how seldom any pro- 
gramme can be accurately carried out in African travel. 

Kindly received by the Sultan of Zanzibar, to whom he 
had first-rate letters of introduction, Livingstone was able 
to make the necessary arrangements for his journey with 
great rapidity, and by the beginning of March he had in 
his service, in addition to thirteen Sepoys from India, ten 
Johanna men, two Shapunga men, one of them the now 
celebrated Susi, two Wayans, the Chumah who with 
Susi remained with his master to the last, and a certain 
Wakatani, both of whom were among the slaves liberated 
in 1861. An Arab dhow was purchased for the transit to 
the Eovuma of the animals, consisting of six camels, three 
buffaloes, two mules, and four donkeys, and large stores of 
merchandise, provisions, &c, were accumulated. No pains, 
in short, were spared to ensure success, and on the 18th 
March all was ready for the start. 

On the 19th the explorer and his retinue crossed from 
Zanzibar to the mainland in Her Majesty's ship Penguin, 



Among the Makonde. 277 



and after a rather disheartening examination of the mouths 
of the Eovuma, Mikindany Bay, twenty-five miles above 
them, was fixed upon as the best spot for disembarkation. 
On the 24th March, Livingstone and his people landed, 
the Penguin took her leave, and the work of the expedi- 
tion may be said to have begun, A house on the sea-shore 
was hired at the rate of four dollars a month to form a kind 
of permanent storehouse ; the animals were disembarked 
from the dhow, carriers were engaged, &c, &c, and on the 
4th April the march to the south was commenced. 

Keeping a little to the right of the 40th parallel of east 
longitude, the caravan wound slowly through dense 
jungle, which had to be cut down for the passage of the 
camels, though it offered no serious obstruction to the men 
of the party, and, halting now at one now at another 
Makonde village, arrived on the banks of the Eovuma on 
the 14th, opposite the furthest point reached by the 
Pioneer in 1866. 

The course was now due west, along the edge of " that 
ragged outline of table-land" which had been seen on the 
previous expedition as flanking both sides of the river. 
A rough path led, in winding fashion, from one village to 
another, all inhabited by Makonde, a degraded negro race, 
knowing nothing — though they are in constant intercourse 
with Arabs — of God, of a future state, or of the commonest 
usages of civilised life. They pray to their mothers when 
dying or in distress, and believe implicitly in the power of 
their doctors over life and death. The headman of every 
village was also the doctor. Livingstone made several 
attempts to teach the Makonde the first principles of 
religion, but his ignorance of their language rendered all 
his efforts unsuccessful. 



278 



Across the Rovuma. 



In the middle of April the caravan turned southwards, 
and for the next two months a south-westerly course was 
pursued, through a mountainous and well- wooded country, 
peopled by the Mtambwe, said to be a branch of the 
Makonde. In this march the chief difficulty with which 
our hero had to contend was the cruelty of his men to the 
animals, many of which were lamed by blows from their 
drivers, but whether with a view to retarding the journey, 
or from a wanton love of inflicting suffering, it was 
impossible to decide. The camels often came back 
from pasture bleeding from newly-inflicted wounds, 
and the buffaloes and mules were also soon covered with 
sores. 

On the 1st May a country comparatively free of wood 
was entered, in which it was possible to advance without 
perpetual cutting and clearing, and on the 12th of the 
same month the highest point of the Kovuma reached by 
the Pioneer in 1862 was passed. Beyond came districts 
hitherto totally unknown to Europeans — though Koscher is 
supposed to have been in their neighbourhood — where the 
natives, though not exactly unfriendly, did not readily 
supply food to the exploring party. The country was 
suffering from drought, and the people were in daily fear 
of raids from the Mazitu, a warlike race living on the 
southern banks of the Kovuma, who plunder and murder 
the surrounding tribes with savage recklessness. 

Miserably short marches were all that could be made on 
the small rations to which Livingstone was now obliged to 
reduce his men, but on the 19th May, all difficulties sur- 
mounted, the junction with the Loendi, supposed to be the 
parent stream of the Kovuma. was reached, and, crossing it 
with the help of a friendly chief called Matumora, our 



Mutiny and Arrival at the JVyassa. 279 

hero hoped to make his way rapidly to Lake Nyassa, along 
the southern bank of the Kovuina. 

But now the Sepoys, who had long shown signs of in- 
subordination, declared they would go no further, and 
inquiry revealed that they had offered Ali, the leader of 
the retinue, eight rupees to take them to the coast. The 
Nassick boys followed their example. They would not go 
on to be starved ; Livingstone must pay their wages and 
let them go. By continued threats and promises, however, 
a truce was patched up for a time, and the whole party 
crept on along the southern bank of the Eovuma till the 
18th June, when one of the Nassick boys died, and the 
Sepoys again rebelled. To make a long story short, we 
may add that, after several vain attempts to bind them to 
his service, Livingstone finally consented to the return of 
the Indians to Zanzibar, and that those who survived the 
journey to the coast arrived there in August or Sep- 
tember. They appear to have suffered greatly, and to have 
had some excuse for their unwillingness to proceed further 
in a country where death from starvation was the least of 
many evils to be feared. 

Pressing on with his reduced numbers through districts 
naturally fertile, but everywhere desolated by the horrors 
attendant on the passage of slave-traders, Livingstone 
followed the course of the Eovuma until the 1st July. 
Then leaving the river in about S. lat. 12°, E. long. 37', 
he entered the Ajawa country, and, traversing it in 
a south-westerly direction, came to Lake Nyassa at the 
confluence of the Mshinge on the 8th August, to find him- 
self once more amongst the friendly Manganja, to whom 
he had rendered such great services in 1861. 

The practicability of the shorter route to the Nyassa 
y— (s.a.) 



280 Round Cape Maclear. 



from the eastern coast was now proved beyond a doubt, 
and, overjoyed by the successful termination of the first 
stage of his journey, Livingstone eagerly set about endea- 
vouring to cross the lake, hoping to reach an Arab settle- 
ment which he knew to exist on the western shore, with 
a view to making it the starting-point for Tanganyika. 

In this plan our hero w r as disappointed, the fear inspired 
by his own proceedings on his previous expedition making 
the slave-traders " flee him as if he had the plague." Two 
Arab dhows cruising constantly backwards and forwards 
with slaves were moved off out of harm's way, " for the 
white man would surely burn them if he got a chance." 

After trying for nearly a month to persuade first one 
and then another native chief to lend him a canoe, Living- 
stone finally determined to go southwards round Cape 
Maclear and ascend the lake on the other side. In this he 
was successful, and on the 21st September we find him 
marching across the base of the promontory, with the 
singular addition to his retinue of two Ajawa, who acted 
as guides and carriers, much to their own surprise, and 
that of everybody else, this tribe seldom condescending 
to do any work but fighting. 

On the 24th September the village of Marenga, situated 
at the eastern edge of the bottom of the heel of the lake, 
was entered, inhabited by a tribe called Babisa, who had 
lately joined with the Ajawa in their raids upon the Man- 
ganja. The chief of this village, who was suffering from a 
loathsome skin disease introduced into the country by the 
Arabs, received Livingstone courteously, but allowed him 
to proceed northwards without warning him that the 
Mazitu were ravaging the country through which he must 
piss. On the 26th September, however, an Arab met the 



Desertion of Johanna Men. 281 



party, and told Musa, one of the Johanna men, that all who 
ventured further would certainly be murdered ; forty-four 
Arabs had been killed at Kasungu ; he only had escaped 
to tell the tale. 

Surprised that he had heard nothing of this from 
Marenga, and half suspecting foul play, Livingstone lost 
no time in returning to that chief to inquire if there were 
any foundation for the story. The reply received was to 
the effect that it might be true. The natives were very 
bitter against the Arabs, who were gradually destroying 
their country. They would allow no more to settle amongst 
them, but their hostility would not extend to Livingstone 
or his people, and there were no Mazitu where he was 
going. 

Completely reassured himself, Livingstone determined 
to proceed, but the Johanna men had taken alarm. 
" Musa's eyes stood out with terror." He exclaimed, 
speaking of Marenga, " I no can believe that man ;" and 
when Livingstone inquired how he came to give such 
ready credence to the Arab, he answered, " I ask him to 
tell me true, and he say true, true." Eeasoning and per- 
suasion were alike in vain. Convinced that they and their 
master were doomed, the Johanna men resolutely declined 
to go further, and when the start was again made they 
went off in a body, leaving their loads on the ground. 

This was the true origin of the report, long believed in 
England, of the murder of Livingstone by natives on the 
western shores of Lake Nyassa. The deserters made their 
way back to Zanzibar, and, anxious to excuse their own 
conduct, and explain their sudden return, related the 
following plausible story : — 

The expedition had safely reached Lake Nyassa and 



282 



Musas Story. 



crossed it. The doctor then pushed on westwards, and in 
course of time reached Goomani, a fishing village on a 
river. The people of Goomani warned Livingstone that 
the Mafites, a wandering predatory tribe, were out on a 
plundering expedition, and that it would not be safe to 
continue the journey ; but the dangers thus presented to 
view were not of a nature to deter a man who had braved 
so many before. Treating the warnings as of little 
moment, therefore, he crossed the river in canoes the next 
morning, with his baggage and his train of followers. All 
the baggage animals had perished from want of water 
before this river was reached, so that the luggage had to 
be carried by the men. Being a fast walker, Livingstone 
soon distanced all his heavily-laden followers except Musa, 
and two or three others who kept up with him. The 
march had continued some distance, when Dr. Livingstone 
saw three armed men ahead, and thereupon he called out 
to Musa, " The Mafites are out after all !" These were the 
last words he uttered. The Mafites, armed with bows and 
arrows and axes, closed upon the doctor, who drew his 
revolver and shot two. The third, however, got behind 
him, and with one blow from an axe clove in his head. 
The wound was mortal, but the assassin quickly met his 
own doom, for a bullet from Musa's musket passed through 
his body, and the murderer fell dead beside his victim. 

Musa added that the doctor died instantly, and that, 
finding the Mafites were out, he ran back to the baggage- 
men, and told them that their master had been killed. 
The baggage was then abandoned, and the whole party 
sought safety by a hasty flight, which they continued till 
sunset, when they took refuge for the night in a jungle. 
The next day they returned to the scene of the disaster, 



Young's Search Expedition, 283 



and found Livingstone's body lying on the ground naked 
but for the trousers, the rest of his clothing having been 
stolen. A hole was hastily " scratched " in the ground, 
and the explorer was buried. No papers or any other 
means of identification were recovered, and, broken-hearted 
at the loss of their beloved master, the Johanna men 
started for the coast, enduring great hardships by the way, 
but finally arriving safely in Zanzibar. 

To this tale all the faithless servants adhered through 
one cross-examination after another, and it was very 
generally believed, until Sir Eoderick Murchison, in a 
letter to the Times, pointed out several flaws in the 
ingenious fabrication, proposing at the same time that an 
expedition should be sent to the western shores of Lake 
Nyassa to examine into the truth of the report. The 
English Government promptly seized this suggestion ; 
volunteers were called for, and hundreds of brave men at 
once eagerly offered their services. Mr. Edward Daniel 
Young was selected to take the command, and left England 
on the 11th June, 1869. 

In a trip extending over less than five months, the 
gallant officer completely proved the falsity of Musa's 
account, obtained trustworthy evidence of Livingstone's 
continued health and activity, and on the 19th October 
embarked for England, where the news he brought was 
received with unbounded enthusiasm. 

Meanwhile, Livingstone, ignorant alike of the report of 
his death and of the efforts being made on his behalf, 
quietly reflects in his journal that he is not sorry to have 
got rid of the Johanna men, they were such inveterate 
thieves. Pressing on with his small retinue, now reduced 
to the surviving Nassick boys and the Shapunga and 



284 



Alarm and Flight. 



Ajawa men, Livingstone reached a village at the foot of 
Mount Mulundini, on the west of the heel of the Nyassa, 
on the 28th September, and, obtaining there confirmation 
of the reports of disturbances on the north, determined to 
go west amongst the Manganja, here called Maravi. 

This resolution was attended with the best results. 
Courteously received at every village, and supplied with 
guides to the next, our hero passed safely through a beau- 
tiful mountainous country, till he came to the hamlet of 
Pamiala, where he turned southwards, and, pursuing a 
zigzag course, reached Chipanga, the most southerly point 
of his journey, on the 16th October. 

A short march westward from Chipanga brought the 
party to a village called Theresa, beyond which the course 
was north-easterly, and through districts hitherto totally 
unknown to Europeans. One river after another, flowing 
towards Lake Nyassa, was crossed, and all seemed likely 
to go well, when, on the 24th October, after a successful 
hunt, in which a fine hartebeest antelope was shot, came 
news, from villagers flying southwards for their lives, that 
the Mazitu were out and close at hand. 

The servants, who were eagerly anticipating a hearty 
supper, such as rarely fell to their lot, started to their feet, 
the half-cooked meat was hastily packed, and Livingstone 
and his guide Mpanda set out to try and engage extra 
carriers to aid in the retreat. 

As they approached the next village, however, the inha- 
bitants poured out. The Mazitu were there too, and the 
terrified people were fleeing to the Zalanyama mountains, 
on the south-west. Mpanda and his men now wished to 
go home and look after their own property, but Living- 
stone managed to persuade them to remain, and follow 



Native Iron-smelters. 



285 



with him " the spoor of the fugitives." Taking his stand 
at the foot of the rocky sides of the Zalanyama range, now 
crowded with trembling natives, our hero intended to 
defend his property to the last; but after waiting some 
time he heard that the enemy had gone to the south. Had 
he carried out his first scheme of going forward in search 
of men, he would have walked straight into the hands of 
the Mazitu, and his fate would probably have differed but 
little from that assigned to him in Musa's story. 

As the journey westwards was pursued, the smoke of 
burning villages on the east and on the south plainly 
marked the course of the marauders, and, thankful for his 
narrow escape, Livingstone pressed on as rapidly as pos- 
sible to the village of Mapino, beyond which he could only 
advance very slowly, as the country was thinly peopled, 
and food and water were scarce. The constant raids of 
marauders from the north and the visits of Arab slave- 
traders from the south had, moreover, rendered the natives 
suspicious and inhospitable, but, as in his previous journeys, 
Livingstone everywhere succeeded in overcoming the pre- 
judice against white men, and convincing the poor down- 
trodden people that he meant them nothing but good. 

On the 14th November the foot of Mount Chisia, a little 
above the 14th parallel of S. lat., was reached, and a halt 
was made at a blacksmith's or founder's village, where 
Livingstone was interested in witnessing the primitive 
native mode of smelting iron, and was watching the erec- 
tion of a furnace on an ant-hill, when the feeling of 
security was again dispelled by tidings of the approach of 
the Mazitu. They were already, said the messenger, at 
Chanyandula's village on the north, which was to have 
been the next halting-place. 



286 First Sight of the Chambeze or Lualaba. 

The headman of the village at once urged Livingstone to 
remain with him till it was certain which path the hated 
invaders would take, and the women were all sent away, 
whilst the men went on quietly with their usual occupations. 
No Mazitu came, but an elephant approached Living- 
stone's camp and " screamed at him," making off, however, 
at the shouting of the villagers. 

The next morning the march was resumed, and on the 
21st November, the Mazitu having been fortunately 
avoided, the source of the Bua (S. lat. 13° 40'), a tributary 
of the Loangwa, was reached, beyond which a halt was 
made outside a stockaded village, where the people refused 
to admit our hero until the headman came and gave per- 
mission. This was a foretaste of many similar difficulties, 
but slowly, very slowly, step by step and inch by inch, the 
advance northwards continued, now broken by illness, 
now hindered by dttours in search of the way. 

On the 16th December the banks of the Loangwa were 
sighted, and, unable to obtain food at the village on its 
eastern shores, Livingstone crossed the stream without a 
guide in about S. lat. 12° 45', and beyond it entered a 
" pathless, bushy country," where the way had to be cut 
step by step by the almost fainting travellers. 

To give the merest outlines of the difficulties surmounted, 
the dangers escaped, and the privations endured as the 
gallant little band advanced further and further into the 
unknown interior, would be to fill a volume. We must 
content ourselves with stating that a climax appears to 
have been reached on the 20th January, 1867, when, after 
plodding on under heavy rains through a famine-stricken 
country, and crossing the river Chambeze, afterwards 
under its name of the Lualaba discovered to be of such 



Loss of Medicine Chest, 



287 



vast importance, which comes down from the western slope 
of the plateau of the district of Lobisa, our hero was 
deserted by the two Ajawa men mentioned as having 
joined his party at Lake Nyassa. The loss of two carriers 
was bad enough, but, to complicate matters still further, they 
took with them the medicine box for the sake of the cloth, 
and some clothes belonging to a boy called Baraka, in 
which were packed a quantity of flour, the tools, two guns, 
and a cartridge-pouch. 

Livingstone, in relating the incident in his journal, 
remarks pathetically that the thieves would, of course, only 
throw away the valuable contents of the medicine box 
when they discovered their nature, adding that he felt as 
if he had now received the sentence of death. 

All attempts to catch the fugitives failed. Heavy rain 
obliterated every trace of their footsteps, and the forest 
was so dense and high that they easily concealed them- 
selves and their booty. Unable now to procure daily 
bread, Livingstone commended himself and the few who 
still remained true to him to God, and struggled on by 
terribly slow stages through the sparsely inhabited Lo- 
bemba country to the important village of Chitapanga, 
where fresh supplies were obtained at a very heavy cost. 

After delaying our hero for three weeks in his village, 
and mulcting him considerably in beads and cloths, Chief 
Chitapanga finally consented to provide him with guides 
to take him to Lake Tanganyika, or, as its lower end is 
called, Lake Liemba, and, cheered by the prospect of soon 
reaching the end of the second stage of his great journey, 
Livingstone started for the north on the 20th February. 
On the 31st March, after an exhausting journey and 
terrible sufferings from fever, for which he had now no 



288 On the Shores of Tanganyika. 

remedies, he came to the village of Mombo, near a ridge 
overlooking the lake, but he was too ill to enter it. 

Compelled to halt almost within sight of the second 
goal of his wanderings, Livingstone heard his boys firing 
their guns in the distance, to celebrate their own approach 
to the long-sought lake. This was too much for him to 
bear unmoved, and, summoning all his remaining strength 
to his aid, he climbed the ridge, saw Lake Tanganyika lying 
peacefully beneath him, descended some 2000 feet, and 
finally stood upon the beach. To quote his own words, he 
was deeply thankful at having got so far, and though 
excessively weak, unable to walk without tottering, he adds 
his conviction that the Highest would lead him further. 

The position of the spot on the lake first visited by 
Livingstone was S. lat. 8° 46', E. long. 31° 57'. The waters 
appeared to be some eighteen or twenty miles broad, and 
he could see them for "about thirty miles up to the 
north." A nearly perpendicular mountain ridge of perhaps 
2000 feet high extends with occasional breaks all round, 
the lake reposing in a deep cup-shaped cavity. The people 
dwelling on its shores— a race called Balungu, who had 
suffered much at the hands of the notorious Mazitu — were 
suspicious of the strangers, and would not allow Living- 
stone to sound the lake, or reply to his enquiries respecting 
the course of the numerous rivers flowing into it. 

After a fortnight's rest amongst the lovely scenery of the 
southern shores of Lake Tanganyika, Livingstone prepared 
to go north-west to try and connect his own observations 
with those of Burton and Speke, but he was soon compelled 
to turn back owing to the disturbed state of the country. 
A little later, he was invited by some friendly Arabs to go 
with them to Ujiji by a north-easterly route, but he had in 



Discovery of Lake Moero. 



289 



the meanwhile heard rumours of the existence of a large 
lake known as Moero on the west, and was determined to 
visit it before returning home. When we add that he was 
at the time subject to fits of insensibility, and was unable 
to do the simplest sum, the full heroism of his noble 
resolve will be realised. The scanty information he 
managed to obtain from the natives respecting Lake Moero 
convinced him that it was connected either with the Congo 
or the Nile — in other words, with the great problem he had 
come so far to solve. Who could tell whether it might not 
turn out to be the ultimate source of one or another of the 
two great rivers — that on its shores he might finally set at 
rest the questions concerning them which had so long 
baffled men of science ? 

Leaving Lake Tanganyika early in May, Livingstone 
arrived at the village of Chitimba, some miles to the south- 
west, on the 20th, to find a large party of Arabs, headed by 
a certain Hamees, there encamped, who informed him that 
there was war between them and a powerful native chief 
of the west named Nsama. 

" This," remarks Livingstone in his journal, " threw the 
barrier of a broad country between him and Lake Moero," 
but he trusted in Providence to open a way, and determined, 
if necessary, rather to make a long ditour southwards 
than give up his purpose. Fortunately his patience was 
not put to the latter severe test, though it was sorely tried 
by a delay of ten weeks at Chitimba, at the end of which, 
however, peace was made between Hamees and Nsama, 
and it became possible to cross the country of the latter. 

The 30th August, 1867, found Livingstone once more 
en route, and after a journey of eleven weeks in a north- 
westerly direction, across an excessively humid and fertile 



290 Suspicions of the Natives. 



country, presenting an almost continuous ascent, he arrived, 
in a state of terrible exhaustion, on the north-eastern shores 
of Lake Moero Okata, one of a series of great lakes fed by 
numerous streams, and connected by the now world- 
famous river Lualaba. 

Lake Moero, the first absolutely new discovery of 
importance made on this arduous journey, is described by 
Livingstone as " of goodly size, and flanked by ranges of 
mountains on the east and west." Its banks are of coarse 
sand, and slope gradually down to the water. Outside 
these banks stands a thick belt of tropical vegetation, in 
which fishermen build their huts. The country called 
Eua lies on the west, and is seen as a lofty range of dark 
mountains ; another range of less height, but more broken, 
stands along the eastern shore, and in it lies the path to 
Cazembe, one of the most important native villages visited 
by our hero. 

The eastern shores of Lake Moero were closely populated, 
villages succeeding each other at intervals of from 100 to 
200 yards, shaded like those in the more southerly Londa 
with a species of fir tree. ' The paramount chief of these 
districts sent a message, to the effect that, if Livingstone 
would sleep in his settlement and give him a piece of cloth, 
he would provide guides and a canoe for the passage of 
the lake the next day, but his people rendered his proposal 
of no avail by declining to lend the white man a hut. 

Pressing on without guidance along the north-eastern 
shore, Livingstone partially ascended the range of moun- 
tains overlooking the lake, and then, turning southwards, 
commenced the march to Cazembe. His party now con- 
sisted of but nine in all, yet the people shut their gates as 
he approached, and only supplied provisions after long 



Arrival at Cazembe. 



291 



and wearisome delays. That their caution was the result 
of much suffering at the hands of previous visitors there 
can be little doubt, but as Livingstone's generous and 
gentle character became known, suspicion wore off. Indeed, 
before he reached Cazembe the natives had become quite 
enthusiastic about their white guest. Crossing one river 
after another, of which the Kalongosi appears to have been 
the chief, and passing the burial-place of the Portuguese 
explorer, Dr. Lacerda, long Governor of Tete, Livingstone 
came in sight of Cazembe on the 21st November, and 
found it to be situated on the east bank of a lakelet called 
Mofwe, and one mile from its northern end. The chiefs 
residence is enclosed in a wall of reeds eight or nine feet 
high and 300 yards square, with a gateway hung with 
some sixty human skulls. 

An Arab trader of note, named Mohammed bin Saleh, 
who had delayed his return to Ujiji for the sake of aiding 
Livingstone, came out to meet our hero, his men firing 
guns of welcome, and conducted the party to his shed of 
reception, giving them a hut till they could build one 
for themselves. We may add that throughout this journey 
Livingstone received much kindness from the Arabs 
generally, who, he tells us, were really solicitous for his 
safety, and again and again warned him in time of 
threatening danger. 

Mohammed, who had lived more than ten years in 
Central Africa, gave Livingstone much geographical in- 
formation, assuring him that the Chambeze he had crossed 
on his journey up was the same river as the Lualaba, that 
it entered a large lake called Bemba, far away on the south 
of Cazembe, flowed thence to Moero, and thence again to 
yet another lake on the north-west of Moero. 



292 First Interview with Cazembe. 

These statements opened out a new and vast field 
of exploration to Livingstone. Still ignorant that this 
Chambeze was in reality the "furthest head stream" of 
the Lualaba, and therefore, as we now know, of the Congo, 
he yet felt that Lake Moero might turn out to be an 
important link in the water system he was so eager to 
trace from end to end. Lake Bemba must be seen 
with his own eyes, and though, as he himself tells us, 
his longing for news from home was so intense that he 
could hardly refrain from making a journey to Ujiji in the 
hopes of finding letters there, the indomitable explorer 
resolved to make Cazembe his head-quarters, first for a 
series of excursions to Lake Moero, and secondly for a 
journey to Lake Bemba. 

A day or two after his arrival, our hero was summoned 
to a grand reception by the chief of Cazembe, who received 
him seated " before a gigantic hut, surrounded by a score 
of smaller huts for his attendants." He was attended by 
his principal wife, his executioner, and a number of 
" officers," many of the latter with cropped ears and one 
hand lopped off, telling of former disgrace. 

The object of Livingstone's visit having been explained 
by an old native, minus both ears, the white man came 
forward and made his bow. Cazembe, who is described as 
a heavy, uninteresting-looking man, with something of a 
Chinese type of countenance, then politely assured his 
guest that he was "welcome to his country, to go where he 
liked and do what he chose," and after a few more 
formalities the conversation became general Livingstone 
even ventured to say to the executioner, who had "a 
curious scissors-like instrument at his neck for cropping 
ears, that his must be nasty work; at which sally "he 
smiled, and so did many who were not sure of their ears 



The Start for Lake Bemba. 



293 



for a moment." Another laugh was raised when Living- 
stone, on being called upon to salute the " queen, a tall- 
good-featured lady, with two spears in her hand, involun- 
tarily beckoned to her to come nearer." 

In a later interview with Cazembe, our hero tried to 
persuade him to give up selling his people for slaves, but 
was answered by a tirade on the greatness of his power 
and dominion, which Mohammed bin Saleh, who was 
present, turned into the greatest ridicule, declaring that 
Cazembe was really nobody; for there were only two sove- 
reigns in the world, Queen Victoria and the Sultan of 
Zanzibar. 

After several trips north and north-east of Cazembe, and 
a long and tedious delay in that capital, Livingstone at last 
found himself, on the 1st June, 1868, in a position to start 
for Lake Bemba on the south. He had ascertained the 
general course of the Lualaba from it to Lake Moero ; he 
must now determine whether that great river was or was 
not identical with the Chambeze ; and further, if he were 
spared — which he already began to doubt, for his strength 
seemed to be ebbing fast — what connection the new lakes 
discovered had with the Tanganyika. 

Before the commencement of this new trip several of 
our hero's men deserted, but, as an atonement, he had the 
advantage of the escort of an Arab trader, named Moham- 
med Mograbib, who was going north to buy copper. The 
route, like that from Lake Tanganyika to Moero, led through 
districts of great humidity, which are described by our 
hero as resembling a saturated sponge. On the hardened 
constitution of Mohammed, who had long traded in ivory 
and copper, probably also in slaves, in these parts, the 
damp had no detrimental erfect, but for Livingstone it was 



294 



Discovery of Lake Bemba. 



most unfortunate, though he complains but little in his 
journal, dwelling rather on the awful sufferings endured by 
the slaves in the party than on his own. 

In a private letter, written about this time, he says he 
was never more touched by the condition of the unhappy 
captives than now, a fact perhaps explained by the 
weakened state of his own nerves, which must have been 
jarred by the slightest untoward incident. On the 24th 
June we find the following touching record in his 
journal : — 

"Six men were singing as if they did not feel the 
weight and degradation of their slave-sticks. I asked the 
cause of their mirth, and was told that they rejoiced at the 
idea of coming back after death, and haunting and killing 
those who had sold them. . . . Then all joined in the 
chorus, which was the name of each vendor. It told not 
of fun, but of the bitterness and tears of such as were 
oppressed," and we may add also of their dim belief in a 
future state, in which the inequalities of this life should 
be rectified by a power higher than that of man. 

Five weeks' hard marching brought the whole party to 
the important village of Chikumbi, where a long halt was 
made whilst waiting for guides to take them to the lake. 
On the 10th July, however, a man belonging to the 
Banyamwezi tribe, living between Chikumbi and Bemba, 
was persuaded to lead the way, and passing through many 
villages deserted by their owners in consequence of recent 
raids from the ubiquitous Mazitu, our hero crossed in 
rapid succession the Chiperaze, Eofua, Mato, Mampanda, 
Meshwa, and Makongo rivers, to arrive on the 17th July, 
1868, at Masantu, the chief village of the Mapuni 
district, near the north bank of Lake Bemba, or, as he 



Cruise on Bangweolo. 



295 



christened it, to distinguish it from the country of the 
same name, Lake Bangweolo. 

On the 18th July, Livingstone walked alone to the 
shores of the lake, thankful that he had come there safely. 
But no exultation, no enthusiasm marks the record in his 
journal of the discovery of this, one of the largest and 
most important of the Central African lakes, into which 
the Congo enters as the Chambeze, leaving it as the 
Lualapa. He had arrived safely ; he was thankful : that 
is all. Perhaps a chill foreboding told him that he should 
not live to complete his work — that to give his lake 
its true position in the hydrographical systems of Africa 
was reserved for another. However that may be, he passes 
on from the quiet record of the great event of the 18th July, 
1868, to tell how he bargained with the chief of Mapuni 
for a canoe to cross the lake, obtaining one, after much hag- 
gling, for two fathoms of cloth, a hoe, and a string of beads. 

On the 25th July, Livingstone embarked on Lake Bang- 
weolo in a fine canoe, with five stout men as propellers, 
and in a few hours reached the island of Lifunje, where he 
remained a short time, going on before night to the more 
important Mbahala, lying in S. lat. 11° 0', where his 
appearance created the greatest excitement amongst the 
natives, who had never before seen a white man. 

Walking across to the north end of the island, Living- 
stone ascertained it to be about one mile broad, and from 
the eastern point he made out a larger island on the right, 
called by the natives Chirubi, and said to contain a large 
population, possessing many sheep and goats. These 
minor facts determined, our hero prepared to continue his 
voyage, hoping to pass, if he could not touch at, the 
" Land's End" on the west of Mbahala, where the Lualapa 
leaves Lake Bangweolo on its way to Lake Moero. But, alas ! 



296 Strike of Canoe-men. 



on the 22nd July the canoe-men struck. They had heard 
of a meditated attack upon their little bark ; they dared 
not remain longer on the lake ; but if Livingstone liked to 
stay on Mbahala they would come and fetch him presently, 
when all danger was over. Believing this to be but a got- 
up tale to avoid further work in his service, their wages 
having been paid in advance, the unfortunate explorer at 
first thought of seizing their paddles, and appealing to the 
headman of the island Beflecting further, however, that 
he was entirely in their power, and that the islanders 
would probably side with them, he resolved to bear " with 
meekness, though groaning inwardly," the disappointment 
inflicted upon him. 

" I had only," says Livingstone, " my coverlet to hire 
another canoe, and it was now very cold ; the few beads 
left would all be required to buy food on the way back. 
I might have got food by shooting buffaloes, but that on 
foot, and through grass with stalks as thick as a goose- 
quill, is dreadfully hard work." Back then he must go to 
Masantu's, compelled to trust to native reports, for the 
present at least, for his computation of distances, &c, on 
the lake. 

From Masantu's the march back to Chikumbi, where 
Mohammed and his party had been left, was commenced 
on the 30th July, and on the 5th August the settlement of 
an Arab trader named Kombokombo, a little to the south 
of Chikumbi, was reached. Here Livingstone was cheered 
by the news that Mohammed was contemplating a journey 
west, which would take him to the great Lualaba. " The 
way seems opening out before me," he exclaims, " and I am 
thankful." Before arrangements for accompanying Mo- 
hammed could be made, however, came rumours of war on 



Flight to the North. 



297 



the other side of the Lualaba. Syde bin Omar, an Arab 
trader from Iramba, the country on its western shores 
between Lake Bangweolo and the Kua district, declared it 
would be madness to attempt any explorations in that 
direction. 

Mohammed therefore readily gave up his scheme for the 
present, and united with Omar in objecting strongly to 
Livingstone's going with his small party even down the 
right bank of the Lualapa, though it was in sight. Our 
hero resolved then to wait until all were ready to go, little 
dreaming that the delay would last until the beginning of 
October, that the country would be convulsed with war, and 
that when he did leave Chikumbi it would be to flee to the 
north for his life. First came a raid from devastating 
hordes of Mazitu, who were repulsed by the united forces 
of the Arab traders and the native chiefs ; then a quarrel 
between the successful allies, resulting in an attack, headed 
by Cazembe and Chikumbi, on the Arabs, beginning with 
the Kombokombo mentioned above. 

Confusion now prevailed everywhere. The daily entries 
in Livingstone's journals became impossible, but on the 
5th October he writes how he and his little band of 
servants were on one occasion surrounded by a party of 
fifteen or twenty natives, who attacked them with spears 
and poisoned arrows ; how " one good soul helped them 
away — a blessing be on him and his how he narrowly 
escaped from the hands of another chief, who took him 
and his men for Mazitu ; and how, lastly, he joined forces 
with the Arab traders, and started north on the 23rd 
September, fences being built every night to protect the 
united camps, which were, however, unmolested till the 
northern bank of the Kalongosi river was reached. Here 



298 



Delay at Kabwawata. 



500 natives were drawn up to dispute the passage, but as 
Livingstone and an advanced party with thirty guns 
crossed over they retired. Our hero, however, went 
amongst them, explained who he was, was recognised by 
some old acquaintances, and obtained a truce for the 
Arabs. All became friendly, an elephant was killed, 
stores of provisions were bought, and two days later the 
march was resumed. 

On the 1st November, 1868, Kabwawata, on the north- 
west of Lake Moero, was reached, and another long delay 
ensued before the Arab traders were again ready to start. 
The time was employed by Livingstone in making an ex- 
haustive resumt of his own work and that of his prede- 
cessors in connection with the Nile, his conviction being 
that in Lake Bangweolo he had found the final, or at least 
one of the final, sources of that great river. The work of 
Cameron and Stanley, as we shall see, has, however, since 
proved the Lualaba to be the upper course, not, as supposed 
by Livingstone, of the Nile, but of the Congo, and we 
therefore pass over all that the hero of our present chapter 
urges in support of the former view. 

Whilst Livingstone was at Kabwawata he was cheered 
by the escape to their own land of a number of slaves from 
Kua, belonging to Syde bin Habib, and tells us how, when 
once over the Lualaba, they were safe. Probably, he adds, 
war would be the result between the chief of the village at 
which they crossed and Syde, but there was little chance 
of the recapture of the fugitives. Another pleasant 
episode was the return of some of the men who had 
deserted before the trip to Bangweolo, and now begged to 
be taken back. Eeadily forgiven by their master, who 
observes that there was great excuse for them, after the 



Start for Ujiji, and Serious Illness. 299 

conduct of their Johanna comrades, they now became 
apparently devoted to his service, though we shall pre- 
sently have to relate their renewed faithlessness. 

Once more surrounded by the retinue who had come 
with him from Lake Nyassa, Livingstone started for Ujiji 
with the Arabs on the 11th December, his party and Mo- 
hammed's leading the way, whilst a long train of native 
hangers-on and strings of wretched slaves, yoked together 
in their slave- sticks, brought up the rear. Some of the 
latter carried ivory, others copper, or food for the march, 
but on the faces of all were written fear, misery, and 
degradation. 

The march to Tanganyika, which was in a more northerly 
direction than the westward journey, seems to have been 
one long agony to Livingstone. In his journal he tells of 
heavy rains impeding progress, the escape and recapture 
of slaves, the hostility of villagers, &c, but the entries 
become shorter and shorter, and on the 1st January, 1869, 
he records that the new year was opening badly ; " he had 
been wet times without number, but the wetting of yester- 
day was once too often ; he felt very ill," and in crossing 
the Lofuko, within some six weeks' journey of the lake, he 
was " cold up to the waist/' which made him worse, 
though he struggled on for another two hours and a-half. 

On the 3rd January, after one hour's march, he found 
himself too weak to go further, ... his lungs were 
affected, ... he did not know how the next few 
days were passed. A rill was crossed, and sheds were 
built, but whether he took any share in the work he cannot 
telL " I lost count," he says, " of the days of the week 
and month after this, but about January 7th he managed 
to write the following touching sentence : — 



300 



Carried on a Kitanda. 



" Cannot walk. Pneumonia of right lung, and I cough 
all day and all night ; . . . distressing weakness. 
Ideas flow through the mind with great rapidity and 
vividness, in groups of twos and threes. If I look at any 
piece of wood, the bark seems covered all over with figures 
and faces of men, and they remain though I look away and 
turn to the same spot again. I saw myself lying dead in 
the way to Ujiji, and all the letters I expected there 
useless. When I think of my children and friends, the 
lines run through my head perpetually— 

i I shall look into your faces, 

And listen to what you say, 
And be often very near you 

When you think I am far away.' 

Mohammed Mogharib came up, and I have got a cupper, 
who cupped my chest." 

A little further we have the following entry, dated the 
8th January : — " Mohammed Mogharib offered to carry me. 
I am so weak, I can scarcely speak. We are in Marungu 
proper now— a pretty but steeply undulating country. 
This is the first time in my life I have been carried in 
illness, but I cannot raise myself to the sitting posture. 
No food except a little gruel. Great distress in coughing 
all night long; feet swelled and sore. I am carried four 
hours each day on a kitanda or frame, like a cot ; carried 
eight hours one day. . . . We seem near the brim of 
Tanganyika. . . . Mohammed Mogharib is very kind to 
me in my extreme weakness; but carriage is painful; 
head down and feet up alternates with feet down and head 
up ; jolted up and down sideways — changing shoulders 
involves a toss from one side to the other of the kitanda. 



Safe at Ujiji at last! 



301 



The sun is vertical, blistering any part of the skin exposed, 
and I try to shelter my face and head as well as I can 
with a bunch of leaves, but it is dreadfully fatiguing in 
my weakness." 

After this we have no note for five weeks. Then, on the 
14th February, 18 69, the arrival at Tanganyika is announced, 
succeeded by a few lines to the effect that Livingstone felt 
if he did not get to Ujiji, where he could have proper food 
and medicine, soon he must die. 

Not until the 27th of the same month, after fearful 
sufferings in a miserable hut infested with vermin on the 
shores of the lake, were canoes obtained, and the transit 
begun. On the 8th March, Kasanga islet was reached, 
and, much to Livingstone's disappointment, the party dis- 
embarked. A little revived by the pure air on the water, 
and already near Ujiji, he had hoped soon to be in that 
village, where he believed letters from home and stores 
from Zanzibar must long have been awaiting him. 

On the 14th March, Ujiji was at last reached, but, on 
landing, our hero found that more than half his goods had 
been made away with, and that the road to Unyanyembe 
was blocked up by a Mazitu war. No hope of receiving 
anything more from the east for the present, no hope of 
getting home by way of Zanzibar ; but not one repining word 
is uttered by Livingstone in the now more frequent notes in 
his journal. He says nothing about the improvement in his 
health, though that is implied in the plans he hints at for 
further researches on the west. No change of purpose is 
allowed to result from all he has undergone. He has 
reached Ujiji; he is better. He will make Ujiji the 
starting-point for a journey direct to Manyuema, far away 
on the north-west, not only ol Moero, but of that other 



302 Across Tanganyika again. 



unseen lake known as Kamolondo, and supposed by him 
to be the most northerly and elevated of the series of 
which Bangweolo is probably the lowest and most 
southerly. 

Forty-two letters were now written home, and entrusted 
to Arabs for transmission to Zanzibar, but they never 
reached their destination, and are supposed to have been 
wantonly destroyed. One ingenious theory respecting 
the relation of Tanganyika to the other lakes of Central 
Africa is worked out after another — what is the meaning 
of the current setting towards the north ? — is the long 
narrow sheet of water only a river after all ? — if a lake, 
has it an outlet, and, if so, where is that outlet ? — such are 
some of the questions propounded, but not answered, by 
the great explorer, as he bides his time for an opportunity 
to go and see the great rivers reported to intersect Man- 
yuema, that unknown country of which little more than 
rumours had then reached even the Arab traders of Ujiji, 
those keen trackers of elephants and of black ivory (slaves), 
who had already destroyed many a tribe in more southerly 
regions. 

Presently came rumours of vast herds of elephants 
in Manyuema, and of a sturdy race of blacks differing 
essentially from any of those yet met with. A horde of 
Arabs determined to go and test the truth of these reports, 
and though he knew that he would have to witness scenes 
of bloodshed which must sicken his very soul, Livingstone 
decided to go with them. Perhaps his influence, already 
considerable even with the heartless slave-traders, might 
avail to save some poor wretch here and there ; in any 
case, his own feelings must be laid aside in the cause of 
geographical science. 



Cruelty of Arabs to the Natives. 303 

On the 12th July, 1869, our hero embarked once more 
upon the lake, accompanied by his own little retinue and 
a motley escort of Arabs, half-castes, and natives. The 4th 
August found him landing in the district of Guha, a little 
above the 6th parallel of S. lat., and, led by a guide, the 
whole party, after a slight detour to the south, started in a 
north-westerly direction, over rivers often knee-deep, and 
" among palmyra and hyphene palms, and many villages 
swarming with people." 

The entries in the journal are now almost daily. On 
the 2nd September Livingstone records an elephant hunt 
(in which he was too weak to share, though the heart of a 
young elephant was presented to him by the Arabs), and 
the escape of a young slave for whom he had interceded to 
be freed from his yoke. The poor fellow was near his own 
land, and would be hidden, adds our hero ; but the guide, 
who knew his plan, was eager to betray him for a reward — 
all the poor people on whom the degradation of slavery had 
once passed being ready " to press each other down into 
the mire into which they are already sunk." 

On and on pressed the caravan, now up a broad range of 
mountains, now down a deep valley dotted with Manyuema 
houses built of clay and square in form, but Livingstone 
can hardly note the features of the country, for his heart 
is wrung by the proceedings of his companions. At one 
village he tells us how Dugumbe, a half-caste Arab trader 
of the party, after receiving every kindness and hospitality 
from the natives, seized ten goats and ten slaves, having 
four of his own men killed in revenge. At another place 
a Lunda slave girl was offered for sale to the Manyuema 
for a single tusk of ivory, and the sentence which announces 
the approach to the junction of the Luamo and the Lualaba 



304 



Across Manyuema. 



also deprecates the belief of the natives everywhere in the 
identity of the explorer's aims with those of the cruel 
slave-hunters. 

" The women/' says Livingstone, " were particularly 
outspoken, and when one lady was asked, in the midst of 
her vociferation, just to look if I were of the same colour 
as Dugumbe, replied, with a bitter little laugh, ' Then you 
must be his father/ " 

Whilst waiting at Bambarr^, the chief village of a pro- 
vince of the same name, between 5° and 4° S. lat. and 28° 
and 27° E. long., to get a canoe for the navigation of the 
Lualaba, a fresh party of Ujijian traders, or rather men- 
hunters, arrived, adding still more to the difficulties of 
dealing with the natives. It was useless to try and buy 
anything, or to obtain guidance in exploring the river. 
After one or two short excursions to the west, Livingstone 
therefore decided to go north with his old friend Mahom- 
med Mogharib, one of the most merciful of the Arabs — the 
latter to buy ivory, our hero to reach another part -of the 
Lualaba, and there purchase a canoe. 

Proceeding nearly due north, through dense forests, 
across wilderness and among villages and running rills, 
the paths often choked up by vegetation, the party at first 
advanced with considerable rapidity, the villagers, though 
uproarious from the excitement of never having seen 
strangers before, being perfectly civil. But presently the 
rainy season set in, constant wettings brought on a return 
of fever, the Arabs espoused the feuds of the chiefs through 
whose districts they passed, war and pillage, open murder, 
secret assassination, were the order of the day, and on the 
26th June, 1869, all Livingstone's men except three, named 
Susi, Chumah, and Gardner, deserted him. 



Delay at Bambarrd with Bad Feet. 305 

Merely stating the fact of the running away of his men 
without comment, Livingstone adds that he attempted with 
the three still true to him to get to the Lualaba by 
striking across country in a north-westerly direction, but 
that he was compelled to give up his scheme and turn 
back. For the first time in his life, he adds, evidently 
forgetful of his journey in the kitanda to Tanganyika, " my 
feet failed me ; instead of healing quietly as heretofore 
when worn by hard travel, irritable eating ulcers fastened 
on both feet, and I now limped back to Bambarrd" Here 
he was laid up by the dreadful condition of his feet for 
eighty days, coming out of his hut for the first time on the 
10th of October, after terrible sufferings, to find all. hope 
of further research in the west over for the present at 
least. His supplies were almost exhausted, his men were 
gone. He must wait until fresh servants and stores could 
be obtained from Ujiji. Weary and home-sick, he tried to 
while away the time by collecting information about the 
geography of the country from the Arabs, and in studying 
the ways of the Manyuema, whom he describes as a fine 
and intelligent race, but bloodthirsty and vindictive, who 
might yet be capable of great things but for the constant 
dread of the slave-hunters in which they live. Very 
touching, very pathetic is his description of a disease to 
which those slaves who were born free and captured in 
early youth are subject, and which he says he can call by 
no other name than " broken-heartedness," giving the 
following anecdote as an example : — 

" The elder brother of the Syde bin Habib already men- 
tioned was killed in Eua by a night attack, from a spear 
being pitched through his tent into his side. Syde then 
vowed vengeance for the blood of his brother, and assaulted 



306 The Disease of Broken-heartedness. 

all he could find, killing the elder and making the younger 
men captives. He had secured a very large number, and 
they endured their chains until they saw the broad river 
Lualaba roll between them and their free homes; they 
then lost heart. Twenty-one were unchained as being 
now safe ; however, all ran away at once, but eight, with 
many others still in chains, died in three days after 
crossing. They ascribed their only pain to the heart, and 
placed the hand correctly on the spot ; . . . some 
slaves expressed surprise to me that they should die, 
seeing they had plenty to eat and no work. One fine boy 
of about twelve years was carried, and when about to 
expire was kindly laid down by the side of the path, and 
a hole dug to deposit the body in. He too said he had 
nothing the matter with him except pain in his heart." 

The editor of Livingstone's last journals, Dr. Horace 
Waller, adds that this account was corroborated by our 
hero's servants, who asserted that the sufferings endured 
by some of the captives whilst being hawked about in 
various directions were truly awful. Children who would 
keep up for some time with wonderful endurance, would 
break down at the sound of dancing or music in the 
villages entered. The memory of home and happy days 
was too much for them ; they would cry and sob, the 
" broken heart " would soon follow, and they would sink 
rapidly. 

On the 4th February, 1871, ten of Livingstone's men 
from the coast arrived at Bambarr^, but they came with a 
" lie in their mouth," swearing that the consul had told 
them not to go forward, but to force their master to return. 
Fortunately, however, they brought a letter from Dr. Kirk 
which entirely contradicted their statements, and, en- 



On the Banks of the Lualaba at last. 307 

couraged by it, Livingstone compelled them, by combined 
threats and promises, to start with him for the north-west. 
On the 16th February he was once more en route for the 
long-sought Lualaba, accompanied by his ten unwilling 
servants, and also by a number of slave-traders, who, alas ! 
again spread terror all along their path, rendering it 
almost impossible for the explorer to obtain information 
from the natives, and causing endless difficulties on the 
march. 

On the 28th March, Livingstone notes in his journal the 
total absence of all law, might everywhere making right, 
and adds that he dreads a disturbance at the next village. 
On the 29th he tells of the crossing of the Liya and the 
Moangoi, tributaries of the Lualaba, by two well-made 
wattle bridges, and, lastly, of the arrival at the now 
famous Nyangw£, chief village of a district of the same 
name on the banks of a creek of the Lualaba itself. Again 
we are struck with the absence of all enthusiasm as the 
undaunted hero records his arrival at last on the banks of 
the great river. He went down, he says, on the 31st 
March to have a good look at it, and found it to be " at 
least 3000 yards broad, and always deep," adding, " it has 
many islands, and the current is about two miles an 
hour to the north.' 9 Not one word of triumph at the 
success achieved at the cost of so much labour and so 
much still more arduous waiting, only a few words of 
thankfulness that Abed, an Arab chief, who had pitched 
his camp outside Nyangw^, had said his (Livingstone's) 
" words against bloodshed had stuck into him, and he had 
given orders to his people to give presents to the chiefs, 
but never fight unless actually attacked." 

This was a little step in the right direction, but alas ! it 



308 



Massacre at Nyangw£> 



was rendered of no avail by the cruel and lawless pro- 
ceedings of three men belonging to the retinue of the 
slaver Dugumbe, to whom we have already had occasion 
to refer. Livingstone had built himself a house at Nyang- 
w£, and intended making it his head-quarters for many a 
voyage of exploration up and down the Lualaba. He was 
only waiting for the canoes Abed had promised to procure 
for him, employing the time in making geographical notes, 
&c, on old newspapers with ink made by himself from the 
seeds of a plant, his stores of writing materials being 
exhausted. He should now, he hoped, at last be able to 
ascertain from personal observation whence the Lualaba 
came, and whither it went ; but once more he was foiled, 
and once more compelled to turn back on the very eve of 
success. 

After speaking of the desolation around, of villages in 
flames and fugitives escaping from the slave-hunters across 
the Lualaba, Livingstone give the following terrible narra- 
tive of a scene witnessed by himself at Nyangw& 

" It was a hot sultry day, and when I went into the 
market I saw . . . and three of the men who had 
lately come with Dugumbe. I was surprised to see these 
three with their guns, and felt inclined to reprove them, 
as one of my men did, for bringing weapons into the 
market, but I attributed it to their ignorance ; and it being 
very hot, I was walking away to go out of the market, 
when I saw one of the fellows haggling about a fowl, and 
seizing hold of it. Before I had got thirty yards out, the 
discharge of two guns in the middle of the crowd told me 
ihat slaughter had begun; crowds dashed off from the 
place, and threw down their wares in confusion and ran. 
At the same time that the three opened fire on the mass 



A Noble Protest. 



309 



of people near the upper end of the market-place, volleys 
were discharged from a party down the creek on the panic- 
stricken women, who dashed at the canoes. These, some 
fifty or more, were jammed in the creek, and the men 
forgot their paddles in the terror that seized all The 
canoes were not to be got out, for the creek was too small, 
for so many men and women wounded by the balls poured 
into them, and leaped and scrambled into the water 
shrieking. A long line of heads in the river showed that 
great numbers struck out for an island a full mile off. 
. . . Shot after shot continued to be fired on the 
helpless and perishing. Some of the long line of heads 
disappeared quietly; whilst other poor creatures threw 
their arms high, as if appealing to the great Father above. 
. . . Dugumbe put people into one of the deserted 
vessels to save those in the water, and saved twenty-one ; 
but one woman refused to be taken on board, from thinking 
that she was to be made a slave of; she preferred the 
chance of life by swimming, to the lot of a slave." 

" My first impulse," adds Livingstone, after relating this 
terrible massacre, " was to pistol the murderers," but Du- 
gumbe protested against his getting into a blood-feud, and 
he was afterwards glad that he refrained, for it could have 
done no real good. Sick at heart, our hero felt he could 
no longer give the sanction of his presence to the murder 
of the innocent; he must make a protest of some kind, 
though the only one in his power involved his turning his 
back on the river it had taken him so many weary months 
to reach. 

Collecting his own little retinue, Livingstone started on 
foot for Ujiji three days later, the Arabs trying to prove 
their penitence by pressing their goods upon him, begging 



310 



Return to Ujiji. 



him not to hesitate to tell them of anything he wanted 
A little gunpowder was all he would accept, and, as he 
turned his back on the Lualaba, he tried to console himself 
with a hope that, with new men from Ujiji, he might yet 
penetrate to Eua, see the underground excavations of which 
the natives had told him in that kingdom, proceed thence 
to Katanga and the four ancient fountains beyond, and, 
finally, visit Lake Lincoln, the name he had given in 
honour of the murdered President of the United States 
to a sheet of water said to exist on the south-west of 
Kamolondo, which discharges its waters through the river 
Loeki or Lomani into the Lualaba. We may add that 
Livingstone named the Loeki Young's Eiver, after the 
leader of the first expedition sent out in search of him; 
and the Lualaba Webb's Eiver, after an old friend of his 
own with whom he spent a great part of his brief holiday 
in England between his second and third journeys in 
Africa. 

In the return march to Ujiji, Livingstone realised to the 
full how unfortunate had been his long connection with the 
slave-dealers, for the natives, unable to distinguish between 
his party and that of their reckless oppressors, dogged his 
steps, and more than once attempted his life. Again 
attacked by fever, and "almost every step in pain," he 
pressed on, past miles of burning villages, until the 7th 
August, when he came to a party of armed Manyuema, 
who refused to come near, threw stones at him and his 
men, and " tried to kill those who went for water." 

On the 8th August, after a bad night, an attack being 
every moment expected, our hero attempted to come to a 
parley with his enemies, feeling sure that he could soon 
convince them of his friendly intentions, but they would 



An Ambush. 



311 



not listen to his envoys, and in passing along a narrow 
path, " with a wall of dense vegetation touching each 
hand," he came to a spot where trees had been cut down 
to obstruct his party whilst they were speared. Clam- 
bering over the barrier, though expecting instant death, 
Livingstone was surprised at meeting with no opposition, 
but as he crept slowly along, preceded by his men, who 
really seem to have behaved very well, and peered up into 
the dense foliage on either side, a dark shadow, that of an 
infuriated savage, here and there intervened between him 
and the sun. Every rustle in the leaves might now mean 
a spear, any sound might be the signal for a massacre. 
Presently a large spear from the right almost grazed 
Livingstone's back, and stuck into the ground behind him. 
He looked round and saw two men from whom it came in 
an opening in the forest only ten yards off, but again his 
foes disappeared as if by magic. 

All were now allowed to go on for a few minutes unmo- 
lested, but soon another spear was thrown at Livingstone by 
an unseen assailant, missing him again by about a foot. A 
red jacket he wore, he tells us, led our hero to be taken for 
Mohammed Mogharib, one of the slave-dealers, and it soon 
became evident that his men were to be allowed to escape 
whilst the attack was concentrated upon him. Ordering 
his attendants to fire their guns into the bush — the first 
time, be it observed, that he had ever in the course of his 
long wanderings used weapons in his own defence — our 
hero still went calmly on, congratulating himself that no 
yells or screams of agony succeeded his volley, till he 
came to a part of the forest cleared for cultivation. 

Here he noticed f< a gigantic tree, made still taller by 
growing on an ant-hill twenty feet high, to which fire had 

2 A — (fes.A.) 



312 



Three Escapes fro?n Death. 



been applied near the roots. As he came up to it, he heard 
a crack which told that the destructive element had done 
its work, but he felt no fear till he saw the huge bulk 
falling forwards towards himself. He started back, and 
only just escaped being crushed. "Three times in one 
day," he remarks, " was I delivered from impending death." 
His attendants, gathering round him, and taking this third 
preservation as a good omen, shouted, " Peace ! peace ! you 
will finish your work in spite of these people, and in spite 
of everything/' % 

Five hours more of " running the gauntlet " ensued, and 
then the little band emerged unscathed on the cleared 
lands of a group of villages, to be met by a friendly chief 
named Muanampanda, who invited them to be his guests. 
On learning the meaning of all the firing he had heard, 
Muanampanda offered to call his people together and 
punish those who had molested the explorer, but, true to 
his generous character, Livingstone declared that he wished 
no revenge for an attack made in error, and .with some 
little difficulty the chief consented to humour what must 
have seemed to him a strange whim. 

At Muanampanda's, Livingstone had unmistakable 
proof of the practice of cannibalism amongst the Man- 
yuema, who eat their foes killed in battle, not from any 
lack of other animal food, but with a view to inspiring 
themselves with courage. They are said to bury a body 
which is to be eaten for two days in a forest, and then to 
disinter and cook it. We are glad to be able to add that 
they seem rather ashamed of this horrible practice, and do 
not like strangers to look at their human meat. 

From Muanampanda's Livingstone went on eastwards 
by very slow stages, for he was overtaken by a serious 



Third Arrival at Tanganyika. 313 

return of his old illness, and the entries in his journal, as 
on his last trip to Tanganyika, are very short and unsatis- 
factory. On the 23rd September he writes, " I was sorely 
knocked up by this march from Nyangw^ back to Ujiji. 
In the latter part of it I felt as if dying on my feet. 
Almost every step was in pain — the appetite failed, 
. . . whilst the mind, sorely depressed, reacted on the 
body. All the traders were returning successful. I alone 
had failed, and experienced worry, thwarting, baffling, 
when.almost in sight of the end towards which I strained." 

But better, far better, as every student of Livingstones 
heroic journey must feel, was such failure as his than the 
successes of the hunters of human flesh, and that he 
himself found consolation in some such reflection is 
touchingly proved by the following sentence forming the 
next entry in his diary, and made ten days after the 
above : — " I read the whole Bible through four times 
whilst I was in Manyuema." 

Another week and he chronicles his third arrival on the 
shores of Tanganyika, this time a little above the sixth 
parallel of S. lat, and close to the entry into the lake of 
the river Logumba, which rises in the Kalogo mountains on 
the west. " Perhaps/' hazards Livingstone, " this river is 
the outlet of Tanganyika." " Great noises as of thunder were 
heard as far as twelve days off, which were ascribed to 
Kalogo, as if it had subterranean caves into which the 
waves rushed with great noise; . . . the country 
slopes that way," he adds, " but I was too ill to examine 
its source " (that of the Logumba). 

On the 9th October the worn-out, almost dying, explorer 
arrived on the islet of Kasenge, on the 18 th he landed on the 
eastern shores of the lake, and on the 23rd he entered Ujiji, 



314 Arrival of Stanley at Ujiji, 



reduced, to use his own words, " to a skeleton." Warmly 
welcomed by the Arabs, who had believed him to be dead, 
and finding the market full of all kinds of native provi- 
sions, he hoped that proper food and rest would soon 
restore him, but in the evening his people came to tell him 
that the goods he had left under the care of a man named 
Shereef had been sold at a nominal price, the Arabs adding 
that they protested, but the " idiot" would not listen to them. 

" This was distressing," exclaims poor Livingstone, thus 
again cut off from hope of fresh explorations. " I had 
made up my mind, if I could not get people at Ujiji, to 
wait till men should come from the coast, but to wait in 
beggary was what I never contemplated." The man 
Shereef actually came without shame to shake hands with 
his old master, and on Livingstone's refusing him that 
courtesy he assumed an air of displeasure, as if he had been 
badly treated, observing on leaving, " I am going to pray." 

In his destitution Livingstone felt, he tells us, as if " he 
were the man who went down from Jerusalem to J ericho, 
and fell among thieves," but for him there was no hope of 
priest, Levite, or good Samaritan. Never, however, was 
the oft-quoted proverb, "when things are at the worst 
they will mend," more thoroughly verified than in this 
instance. First came a generous offer of aid in the form 
of a stock of valuable ivory from an Arab named Syed bin 
Magid, and then the news brought by Susi of the ap- 
proach of an " Englishman," who turned out to be the 
now celebrated American, Henry Moreton Stanley, sent 
out to the relief of Livingstone by Mr. Bennett, proprietor 
of the New York Herald. 

Livingstone's astonishment and delight will be readily 
imagined at this unexpected appearance on the scene of a 



Stanley and Livingstone. 



315 



man bringing not only news from home, for which the exile 
longed so intensely, but stores of goods, including " tin baths, 
huge kettles, cooking pots, tents," &c. The tidings brought 
by Stanley "made his whole frame thrill;" for two long 
years he had heard nothing, and now ho was to learn of 
the Franco-Prussian war, the laying of telegraphic wires 
across the Atlantic, the death of Lord Clarendon, &c. 

Kestored to temporary health and strength by the 
care of Stanley, and cheered by the evident interest 
taken in his fate by all the world, we find Livingstone 
preparing in the middle of November, 1871, to explore the 
northern end of Tanganyika with his new friend, and at his 
expense. Before we join them, however, in this trip, it is 
only fair to Stanley to explain his sudden appearance on 
the scene when Livingstone's means and spirits were alike 
at their lowest ebb. 

When month after month passed by, and no news was 
received from the great explorer, the report of his murder 
brought by the Johanna men who had deserted him at 
Lake Nyassa began again to be believed. The last 
letter from Livingstone which had reached its destina- 
tion was one to the British Consul at Zanzibar, written 
from Ujiji during our hero's first visit to that town, and 
dated May 30th, 1869. It complained of the bad conduct 
of some buffalo drivers, asked the consul to send some 
sheeting, blue cloth, beads, and shoes to Ujiji, and gave 
a short summary of the work the writer still hoped to 
accomplish west of Tanganyika. But in spite of the fact 
that this letter was written two years after the return of 
the Young Eelief Expedition, the general belief entirely 
ignored it, and our hero's best friends concluded that he 
was long since dead. 



316 Interview between Stanley and Bennett \ 

It was under these circumstances that Mr. Stanley, then 
correspondent of the New York Herald at Madrid, was 
summoned by telegraph to Paris to see the proprietor of 
his journal, and in an interview with that gentleman he 
received instructions to go and find Livingstone, Mr. 
Bennett believing the great traveller to be still alive. 
" What !" exclaimed Stanley, " do you really think I can 
find Livingstone ? Do you mean me to go to Central 
Africa ?" 

" Yes," replied Mr. Bennett ; " I mean that you shall go 
and find him wherever you may hear that he is ; . . . 
perhaps the old man may be in want ; take enough with 
you to help him should he require it. Of course you will 
act according to your own plans, but find Livingstone." 

In further conversation Stanley was told to spare no 
expense, to draw a thousand pounds to begin with, another 
thousand when that was gone, and so on ; to take the 
Suez Canal, Jerusalem, Constantinople, and a few other 
places in his way, but to keep ever before him the main 
object of his journey, to find Livingstone. 

Though himself believing that the great traveller was 
dead, Stanley, thinking he could at least obtain certain 
tidings of how and where he met his fate, lost no 
time in obeying instructions, and landed at Zanzibar on 
the 6th January, 1871, when, it will be remembered, 
Livingstone was detained at Bambarr^ by the state of his 
feet and the desertion of his men. 

As usual with all travellers in Africa, Stanley had con- 
siderable difficulty in organising a caravan for the interior, 
but on the 6th February, 1871, exactly one month after his 
first landing in Zanzibar, he crossed over to Bagamoyo, on the 
mainland. On the 18th his first caravan set out with twenty- 



Stanley ' s Start from Zanzibar. 317 

four pagazis or porters and three soldiers ; on the 21st the 
second caravan followed, with eight pagazis, two chiefs, and 
two soldiers ; on the 25th the third, with twenty-two 
pagazis, ten donkeys, one white man, one cook, and three 
soldiers ; on the 11th March the fourth caravan 
started, with twenty-eight pagazis, twelve soldiers, two 
white men, one tailor, one cook, one interpreter, one gun- 
bearer, seventeen asses, two horses, and one dog ; on the 
21st March the fifth and last caravan, led by Stanley him- 
self, with our old acquaintance Bombay acting as " captain 
of escort," left Bagamoyo for the first stage of the west- 
ward journey, and following the ordinary route, already 
several times traversed by previous travellers, entered 
Unyanyembe, the capital of Unyamwesi, on the 23rd June^ 
where he was very hospitably received by the Arab mer- 
chants, but heard that the road on the west was blocked 
by a certain Mirambo of Uyoweh, who declared that none 
should pass to XJjiji unless over his dead body. 

This was very serious news for Stanley, as XJjiji was the 
point at which he hoped to obtain certain tidings of 
Livingstone's fate ; and, determined not to allow anything 
short of his own death to check his advance, he obtained 
permission from the Arabs to join a warlike expedition 
about to be sent out against Mirambo. On the 7th July, 
however, just before the start was to have been made, the 
young American was struck down by a serious fever, to 
find on his recovery that the army had left without him. 
Nothing daunted by this contretemps, he hastily collected 
fifty of his most trusty followers, and, leaving all his heavy 
baggage at Unyanyembe, hurried across country to the 
Arab camp, which he reached, after three days' journey, at 
a place called Mfuto. Little, however, was gained by all 



318 



First News of Livingstone, 



these energetic efforts. The Arab forces were beaten by 
those of Mirambo, and Stanley shared their hurried flight 
back to Unyanyembe, whither they were followed by the 
enemy, who attacked the town, but were routed with great 
loss. 

The Arabs now advised Stanley to remain their guest 
until peace was made, but the waiting and inaction were 
intolerable to him, and he resolved to make a wide ditour 
southwards, and reach Ujiji without approaching the camp 
of Mirambo. Taking with him a party of fifty-four men, 
with eight loads of cloth, medicines, &c, &c, he left Un- 
yanyembe on the 20th September, and, after a terrible 
journey of about a fortnight, arrived within five days' 
march of Ujiji, with his party reduced to a mere handful 
by desertion, fever, &c, and his own strength almost 
exhausted. But his reward was near, for at the end of the 
fortnight, on the 3rd November, 1871, a caravan from 
Ujiji was met outside a village of Uvinza called Kiala. 

" We asked the news," says Stanley, " and were told a 
white man had just arrived at Ujiji from Manyuema. 
This news startled us all. 

" A white man V we asked. 

" Yes, a white man," they replied. 

" How is he dressed ? " 

" Like the master," they answered, referring to Stanley. 
" Is he young or old ?" 

" He is old. He has white hair on his face, and he is 
sick." 

" Where has he come from ?" 

" From a very far country, . . . called Manyuema." 
K Indeed ; and is he stopping at Ujiji now ?" 
" Yes ; we saw him about eight days ago." 



Approach to Ujiji. 



319 



" Do you think he will stop there until we see him ?" 
" Don't know." 

" Was he ever at Ujiji before ?" 

" Yes ; he went away a long time ago !" 

" Hurrah!" shouted Stanley, adding more quietly to 
himself, " he must be Livingstone ; he can be no other ; 
but still" — a chill doubt creeping over his confidence — "he 
may be some one else — some one from the West Coast " — 
Baker, perhaps, who a reference to our Heroes of Dis- 
covery in North Africa will show to have been at this 
time engaged as Pasha of Egypt on his expedition against 
the slave-traders. 

" God grant me patience ! " further soliloquised Stanley ; 
" but I do wish there was a railroad, or at least horses, in 
this country." Failing either of these rapid modes of 
transit, the impatient traveller was compelled to content 
himself with creeping cautiously onwards, dreading at 
every step that his journey would be stopped by some of 
the countless delays incidental to African travel, and that 
he would, after all, arrive at Ujiji too late to render any 
assistance to the " sick old man" described by the natives. 

As we already know, Stanley was spared any such 
terrible disappointment. The shores of Lake Tanganyika 
were reached on the 10 th November, and on the same day, 
" with guns firing and the Stars and Stripes flying," Ujiji 
was approached, crowds of natives pouring out to inquire 
the meaning of the noise. 

The caravan " was about three hundred yards from the 
village of Ujiji, and the crowds were dense about," when a 
quiet voice said to its leader in English, " Good morning, 
sir;" and, to quote his own w r ords, Stanley, "startled at 
hearing this greeting in the midst of such a crowd of black 



320 Meeting with S7isi 



people/' turned sharply round to see a man " dressed in a 
long white shirt, with a turban of American sheeting 
around his woolly head." 

"Who the mischief are you?" cried the American, 
receiving the reply we could have anticipated, " I am Susi, 
the servant of Dr. Livingstone." 

" What ! is Dr. Livingstone here ?" 

" Yes, sir." 

" In this village ?" 

" Yes, sir." 

" Are you sure V 

" Sure, sure, sir ; why, I leave him just now/' 
" Good morning, sir," now said another voice. 
" Hallo ! is this another one V 
" Yes, sir." 

" Well, what is your name ?" 
" My name is Chumah, sir." 
" What ! are you Chumah ?" 
" Yes, sir." 

" And is the doctor well ?" 
" Not very well, sir." 
" Where has he been so long ?" 
" In Manyuema." 

" Now you, Susi, run and tell the doctor I am coming." 

Off went Susi, to return the next minute to inquire 
on his master's behalf the name of the white man 
who said he was coming ; but without waiting for further 
parley, Stanley pushed on through the dusky crowds till 
he came " in front of a semicircle of Arabs," engaged in 
eager conversation with the " white man with the grey 
beard." 

" As I advanced slowly towards him," adds Stanley, " I 




MEETING BETWEEN STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. 



Meeting between Livingstone and Stanley. 321 

noticed he was pale, that he looked weary and wan, that 
he had grey whiskers and moustache, that he wore a 
bluish cloth cap with a faded gold band on a red ground 
round it, and that he had on a red sleeved waistcoat and a 
pair of grey tweed trousers. I would have run to him, 
only I was a coward in the presence of such a mob — would 
have embraced him, but that I did not know how he would 
receive it ; so I did what moral cowardice and false pride 
suggested was the best thing, took off my hat and said- — 

"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" To which the great 
explorer answered simply, and with a kind, cordial smile, 
the one word, " Yes." 

The two then clasped hands, and Stanley added, " I 
thank God, doctor, I have been permitted to see you 
receiving the quiet answer, " I feel thankful that I am 
here to welcome you." 

Five days later, when much intensely interesting infor- 
mation had been exchanged between the two heroes of 
travel, the trip to the north of Tanganyika was commenced. 
Embarking at Ujiji in a " cranky canoe," with a few 
picked followers, the explorers cruised up the eastern coast, 
of which we give one view, halting at different villages 
for the night, and on the 29th November reached, at the 
very head of the lake, the mouth of the Eusizi river, 
respecting the course of which great doubt had hitherto 
been entertained, some geographers supposing it to flow 
into and others out of the lake. In the latter case Tan- 
ganyika might possibly empty its waters through it into the 
Albert N'yanza of Baker, and the supposition that the two 
lakes were connected would receive confirmation. A careful 
examination on the part of Livingstone and Stanley, however, 
showed that the Rusizi flowed with a swift and strong 



322 Livingstone Refuses to go Home. 

current into the lake, and that there must be some other 
outlet to the Tanganyika. That outlet, as we know, has 
since been discovered by Cameron in the Lukuga, which 




ON THE EASTERN SHORES OF LAKE TANGANYIKA. 

in its turn flows into the Lualaba ; that is to say, when it 
is full, it being often dried up. Kecent explorations point 
to the fact that the level of Tanganyika has lately risen 
so much that the Lukuga seems likely to become a con- 
stant outlet. Back again at Ujiji on the 15th December, 



Back to Unyanyembe. 323 



Stanley did all in his power to persuade Livingstone to 
return home with him and recruit his strength ; but the 
only answer he could obtain was, " Not till my work is 
done." In this resolution Livingstone tells us in his 
journal he was confirmed by a letter from his daughter 
Agnes, in which she said — " Much as I wish you to come 
home, I would rather you finished your work to your own 
satisfaction than return merely to gratify me." " I must 
complete the exploration of the Nile sources before I 
retire/' says the devoted hero in another portion of his 
notes, little dreaming that he was all the time working 
not at them, but at those of the Congo. 

It was arranged, however, that Livingstone should 
' accompany Stanley on his return journey as far as Unyan- 
yembe, to fetch the goods there stored up for his use, and 
the start for the east was made on the 27th December, 
1871. Making a detour to the south to avoid the war still 
going on, the party reached Unyanyembe on the 18th 
February, 1872, after a good deal of suffering on Stanley's 
part from fever, and on Livingstone's from sore feet. 

On the 13th March, after giving all the stores he could 
spare to Livingstone, Stanley left for Zanzibar, accom- 
panied for the first day's march by the veteran hero. On 
the 14th March, Livingstone gave the earlier portion of 
the precious journal from which our narrative has been 
culled into the care of the young American, and as they 
walked side by side, putting off the evil moment of parting 
as long as possible, the following interesting conversation, 
the last held by Livingstone in his own language, took 
place : — 

" Doctor," began Stanley, " so far as I can understand it, 
you do not intend to return home until you have satisfied 



324 Livingstone's hit ended Route. 



yourself about the ' Sources of the Kile/ When you have 
satisfied yourself, you will come home and satisfy others. 
Is it not so ?" 

" That is it exactly. When your men come back " 
(Stanley was to hire men at Zanzibar to accompany Living- 
stone in his further journey) " I shall immediately start for 
Ufipa " (on the south-eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika) ; 
" then ... I shall strike south, and round the ex- 
tremity of Lake Tanganyika. Then a south-east course 
will take me to Chikumbi's, on the Lualaba. On crossing 
the Lualaba, I shall go direct south-west to the copper 
mines of Katanga. Eight days south of Katanga the 
natives declare the fountains to be. When I have found 
them, I shall return by Katanga to the underground houses 
of Eua. From the caverns, ten days north-east will take 
me to Lake Komolondo. I shall be able to travel from 
the lake in your boat, up the river Lufira, to Lake Lincoln. 
Then, coming down again, I can proceed north by the 
Lualaba to the fourth lake — which will, I think, explain 
the whole problem. . . ." 

"And how long do you think this little journey will 
take you ?" 

" A year and a-kalf at the furthest from the day I leave 
Unyanyenibe." 

" Suppose you say two years ; contingencies might arise, 
you know. It will be well for me to hire these new men 
for two years, the day of their engagement to begin from 
their arrival at Unyanyembe." 

" Yes, that will do excellently well." 

" Now, my dear doctor, the best of friends must part. 
You have come far enough ; let me beg of you to turn 
back." 



Later Search Expeditions. 



325 



a Well, I will say this to you, you have done what few 
men could do — far better than some great travellers I 
know, and I am grateful to you for what you have done 
for me. God guide you safe home, and bless you, my 
friend." 

" And may God bring you safe back to us all, my dear 
friend. Farewell." 

A few more words of good wishes on either side, another 
and yet another clasp of the hand, and the two heroes 
parted, Stanley hurrying back with all possible speed to 
Zanzibar to despatch men and stores for the doctor to 
Unyanyembe, Livingstone to return to that town to await 
the means of beginning yet another journey to the west. 

It has long been well known that Stanley found the 
Royal Geographical Society's Livingstone Search Expedi- 
tion at Bagamoyo, and that its leader, Lieutenant Dawson, 
threw up his command on hearing of the success of his 
predecessor. With the aid of Mr. Oswell Livingstone, the 
son of the great explorer, the young American, however, 
quickly organised a caravan, and saw it start for the 
interior on the 17th May. Somewhat later, the Eoyal 
Geographical Society sent out another exploring party, 
led by Lieutenant Grandy, with orders to ascend the 
Congo, to complete the survey of that stream, and at the 
same time to convey succour and comfort to the great 
traveller, who geographers already began to suspect was 
upon the upper waters of the Congo, and not of the Nile ; 
but this last expedition utterly failed of success. 

Not until long afterwards was the true sequel of 
Livingstone's sad and romantic history known in England. 
In his last letter, one to Mr. Well, Acting American 
Consul at Zanzibar, dated from Unyanyembe, July 2nd. 

2 B— (S.A.) 



326 A r rival of Reinforcements from Stanley. 

1872, he says, " I have been waiting up here like Simeon 
Sylites on his pillar, and counting every day, and conjec- 
turing each step taken by our friend towards the coast, 
wishing and praying that no sickness might lay him up, 
no accident befall, and no unlooked-for combinations of 
circumstances render his kind intentions vain or fruitless." 

The remainder of our narrative is culled from the latter 
part of Livingstone's journal, brought to Zanzibar with his 
dead body by his men, and from the accounts of his 
faithful followers Susi and Chumah, as given in " Living- 
stone's Last Journals/' edited by Dr. Horace Waller. From 
these combined sources, we learn that on the 13th June, 
just four months after the departure of Stanley, Sangara, 
one of his men, arrived at Unyanyembe with the news 
that the new caravan was at Ugogo, and that on the 14th 
August in the same year the men actually arrived. Living- 
stone's servants now numbered some sixty in all, and in- 
cluded the well-known John and Jacob Wainwright; two 
highly-trained Nassick men, sent from Bombay to join 
Lieutenant Dawson, who, with their fellow-countrymen 
Mabruki and Gardner, enlisted in 1866 ; and Susi, Chumah, 
and Amoda, three of the men who joined Livingstone 
on the Zambesi in 1864, and now formed a kind of body- 
guard, protecting their master in every peril in life, and 
guarding his body in death with equally untiring devotion. 

On the 25th August, 1872, the start for the south-west 
was at last made, and after daily records in the journal of 
arduous ascents of mountains, weary tramps through flat 
forests, difficulties in obtaining food, in controlling the 
men, &c, we come on the 19th September to a significant 
entry, to the effect that our hero's old enemy dysentery 
was upon him. He had eaten nothing for eight days, yet 



Westwards once more! 



327 



he pressed on until the 21st, when he was compelled to 
rest until the 24th, going on again from that day without 
pause until the 8th October, when he sighted the eastern 
shores of Tanganyika, a little below the 6th degree of S. 
lat. Then ensued a halt of a couple of days, when, turning 
due south, the course led first along a range of hills over- 
looking the lake, and then across several bays in the 
mountainous district of Fipa, till on the 31st October a 
very large arm of Tanganyika was rounded. The lake was 
then left, and a detour made . to the east, bringing the 
party on the 11th November to the important town known 
as Zombe's, built in such a manner that the river Halo- 
cheche, on its way to Tanganyika, runs right through it. 

At Zombe's a western course was resumed, and passing 
on through heavy rains, and over first one and then 
another tributary of the lake, our hero turned southwards, 
a little beyond the most southerly point of Tanganyika, to 
press on in the same direction, though again suffering 
terribly from dysentery, until the 19th November, when 
he once more set his face westwards, arriving on the 27th 
December on the banks of the Kalongosi river, a little to 
the east of the point at which he had sighted it on his 
flight northwards with the Arabs. 

On the 22nd of December what may be called the direct 
march to Lake Bangweolo was commenced, the difficulties 
of travelling now greatly aggravated by the continuous 
rain which had filled to overflowing the sponges, as Living- 
stone calls the damp and porous districts through which he 
had to pass. To quote from Dr. Wallers notes, " our hero's 
men speak of the march from this point " (the village of 
Moenje, left on the 9th January, 1873) "as one continued 
plunge in and out of morass, and through rivers which 



328 Through Rivers and Swamps. 



were only distinguishable from the surrounding waters by 
their deep currents and the necessity of using canoes. To 
a man reduced in strength, and chronically affected with 
dysenteric symptoms," adds Dr. Waller, " the effect may 
well be conceived. It is probable that, had Dr. Living- 
stone been at the head of a hundred picked Europeans, 
every man of them would have been down in a fortnight." 

Under these circumstances we cannot too greatly 
admire the pluck of Livingstone's little body of men, for it 
must not be forgotten that Africans have an intense horror 
of wet, and that those from the coast suffer almost as much 
as white men from the climate of the interior. 

Following the red line which marks the great explorer's 
course on the admirable map published with his "Last 
Journals/' we find that he crossed no less than thirteen 
rivulets in rapid succession — more, in fact, than one a-day. 
On the 1 7th J anuary he notes that he is troubled for want 
of canoes, they being now indispensable to further progress, 
and that he is once more near the Chambeze, the river 
which he had crossed far away on the north-east just before 
the loss of his medicine chest and the beginning of 
his serious troubles. 

No canoes were, however, forthcoming ; the natives 
were afraid of the white man, and would give him no 
help either with guides or boats. Nothing daunted even 
then, though his illness was growing upon him to such an 
extent that the entries in his journal are often barely 
legible, he pressed on, now wading through the water, now 
carried on the shoulders of one or another of his men. 

The following extract from the Journal, dated January 
24th, will serve better than pages of second-hand descrip- 
tion to give some notion of the kind of work done in the last 



Extract from the " Last Journals!' 329 

few stages of this terrible journey : — " Went on east and 
north-east to avoid the deep part of a large river, which 
requires two canoes, but the men sent by the chief would 
certainly hide them. Went an hour-and-three-quarters' 
journey to a large stream through drizzling rain, at least 
300 yards of deep water, amongst sedges and sponges of 
100 yards. One part was neck deep for fifty yards, and 
the water cold. We plunged in elephants' footprints one 
and a-half hours, then came on one hour to a small rivulet 
ten feet broad, but waist deep, bridge covered and broken 
down. Carrying me across one of the broad deep sedgy 
rivers is really a very difficult task ; one we crossed was 
at least 2000 feet broad, or more than 300 yards. The 
first part the main stream came up to Susi's mouth. One 
held up my pistol behind, then one after another took a 
turn, and when he sank into a deep elephant's footprint 
he required two to lift him so as to gain a footing on the 
level, which was over waist deep. Others went on and 
bent down the grass so as to insure some footing on the 
side of the elephant's path. Every ten or twelve paces 
brought us to a clear stream, flowing fast in its own 
channel, while over all a strong current came bodily 
through all the rushes and aquatic plants. ... It 
took us a full hour and a-half for all to cross over. . . . 
We had to hasten on the building of sheds after crossing 
the second rivulet, as rain threatened us. At four p.m. it 
came on pouring cold rain, when we were all under cover. 
We are anxious about food. The lake is near, but we are 
not sure of provisions. . . . Our progress is distress- 
ingly slow. Wet, wet, wet, sloppy weather truly, and no 
observations, except that the land near the lake being veiy 
level, the rivers spread out into broad friths and sponges/' 



330 Across the Chambeze at last ! 



Thus wet, sick, and weary, often short of food and doubt- 
ful of his way, the indomitable hero still struggled on, his 
courage sustained by his hope of yet reaching the Cham- 
beze, rounding the lake, and passing the confluence of the 
Lualaba on the west ; his heart cheered by the ever- 
increasing love of his men, especially of the seven already 
mentioned, who vied with each other in their eagerness 
to carry their dear master, to build the tent for his recep- 
tion, to save for him the best of the provisions they were 
able to procure. 

The whole of February and the first half of the ensuing 
month were consumed in wandering backwards and for- 
wards amongst the swamps of the north-east shores of 
Bangweolo, but about the 20th March the camp was at 
last pitched on the left bank of the Chambeze, close to its 
entry of the lake, and the question of its connection with 
the Lualaba was to some extent solved. On the 25th 
March canoes were actually obtained, and, embarking in 
them, our explorer and his men paddled across the interven- 
ing swamps to the Chambeze, crossed a river flowing into it, 
and then the main stream itself, losing one slave girl by 
drowning in the process. On the 27th March preparations 
were made for a further " land/' or we should rather say 
wading journey, for though all the canoes, except a few 
reserved for the luggage, were left behind, the water was not. 
All went fairly well, however, in spite of the gigantic diffi- 
culties encountered, until the 10th April, when, about mid- 
way in the journey along the western bank of the lake, 
Livingstone succumbed to a severe attack of his complaint, 
which left him, to quote his own words, " pale, bloodless, 
and weak from profuse bleeding." 

Surely now he would pause and turn back, that he 



The Last Service. 



331 



might at least reach home to die ! But no ; he allowed 
himself but two days' rest, and then, staggering to his feet, 
though he owns he could hardly walk, he " tottered along 
nearly two hours, and then lay down, quite done. Cooked 
coffee/' he adds — " our last — and went on, but in an hour 
I was compelled to lie down." 

Unwilling even then to be carried, he yielded at last to 
the expostulations of his men, and, reclining in a kind of 
litter suspended on a pole, he was gently borne along to 
the village of Chinama, and there, " in a garden of durra," 
the camp was pitched for the night. Beyond on the east 
stretched " interminable grassy prairies, with lines of trees 
occupying quarters of miles in breadth." On the west 
lay the lake connected with so many perils, but which 
Livingstone even yet hoped to round completely. 

On the 13th April our hero was ferried over the Lolo- 
tikila, on the 15th he was carried over land for a short 
distance to the south-west, on the 16th the Lombatwa 
river was crossed, and on the 17th, after a " tremendous 
rain, which burst all the now rotten tents to shreds/' 
three sponges were crossed in rapid succession. On the 
19th April, Livingstone rallied sufficiently to mount a 
donkey, which, strange to say, had survived all the 
dangers of the journey from Unyanyembe, and came in 
sight of the Lavusi hills — a relief to the eye, he tells us, 
after all the flat upland traversed. 

On the 20th April, which fell on a Sunday, the ex- 
hausted explorer held the last service with his men, crossed 
over a sponge to the village of a man named Moanzam- 
bamba, the headman of these parts, noted in his journal 
that he felt excessively weak, and crossed the river Lokulu 
or Molikulu in a canoe. On the 21st April the only words 



332 



Carried on a Litter. 



Livingstone was able to set down were, "Tried to ride, 
but was forced to lie down, and they carried me back to 
viL exhausted." 

To quote from Dr. Waller, Livingstone's men explained 
this entry thus : — " This morning the doctor tried if he 
were strong enough to ride on the donkey, but he had only 
gone a short distance when he fell to the ground utterly 
exhausted and faint/' Susi then unfastened his master's 
belt and pistol, and picked up his cap, which had fallen to 
the ground, whilst Chumah ran on to stop the men in 
front. When he came back he said, " Chumah, I have 
lost so much blood there is no more strength left in my 
legs ; you must carry me." He was then lifted on to 
Chumah's back, and carried back to the village he had just 
left, but insisted on going on again the next day, though 
his men saw that he was sinking, and began to fear that 
he would not rally again. 

A litter was made of " two side pieces of wood seven 
feet in length, crossed with rails three feet long and about 
four inches apart, the whole lashed strongly together." 
Grass was spread over this rough bed, and a blanket laid 
over it. It was then slung from a pole, Livingstone was 
laid upon it, and two of his men carried him across a 
flooded grass plain to the next village, which was reached 
in about two hours and a-half. 

Here a hut was built, and Livingstone rested for the 
night, if we can speak of rest when he was enduring the 
most terrible pain. On the 23rd April the melancholy 
march was resumed, though our hero was too ill to make 
any entry but the date in his journal. His men report that 
they passed over just such a flooded treeless waste as on 
the previous day, seeing many small "fish- weirs set in 



Natives gather round the Litter. 333 

such a manner as to catch the fish on their way back to 
the lake," but not a sign was to be seen of the inhabitants 
of the country, who appear to have had a great horror of 
the white man's caravan. 

On the 24th April only one hour's march was accom- 
plished, and a halt was made amongst some deserted huts. 
The doctor's suffering on this day was very great, and he 
once nearly fell out of the kitanda or litter, but was saved 
by Chumah. 

On the 25th April an hour's journey brought the party 
to a village containing a few people on the south of the 
lake ; the doctor's litter was set down in a shady place, 
and a few of the natives were persuaded to draw near and 
enter into conversation with him. They were asked 
whether they knew of a hill from which flowed four rivers, 
and their spokesman answered that they knew nothing 
about it, for they were not travellers. All who used to go 
on trading expeditions, he added, were dead. Once Wabisa 
traders used to assemble in one of their villages, but the 
terrible Mazitu had come and swept them all away. The 
survivors had to live as best they could amongst the 
swamps around the lake. 

Unfortunately, the conversation had not continued long 
before the doctor was too ill to go on talking, and he dis- 
missed his visitors, with a request that they would send 
him as much food as they could spare to Kalunganjova's 
town on the west, which was to be the next stopping- 
place. 

On the 26th April, as the litter was being carried from 
Kalunganjova, the chief himself came out to meet the 
caravan, and escorted our hero into his settlement, situated 
on the banks of a stream called the Lulimala, a little to 



834 



From the Bed to the Litter. 



the west of the 30th degree of E. long., and almost on the 
12th parallel of S. lat. Here, on the next day, April 27th, 
1873, Livingstone, who for the three previous days had 
made no entry but the date in his journal, wrote his last 
words in characters scarcely legible : — " Knocked up quite, 
and remain — recover — sent to buy milch goats. We are on 
the banks of the Molilamo," in reality the same river as 
that given as the Lulimala in Livingstone's map, his men 
confirming the latter pronunciation. 

On the 28th April, Livingstone being now in an almost 
dying state, his men went off in various directions to try 
and obtain milch goats, but with no good results. On the 
29th, Kalunganjova came to visit his guest and to offer 
every assistance in his power, promising to try and obtain 
canoes for the crossing of the river — indeed to go himself 
with the caravan to the ferry, which was about an hour's 
march from the spot. " Everything," he said, " should 
be done for his friend." But alas! this eager readiness 
to help, which would have been of incalculable service a 
few weeks before, was too late to be of any real use now. 

When all was ready for the start, and Susi went to tell 
Livingstone it was time for him to enter the litter, the 
doctor said he was too ill to walk to it, and the door of his 
hut being too narrow to admit of its passage to his bedside, 
the wall had to be broken down. When this was done, the 
litter was placed by the bedside, the dying hero was gently 
lifted on to it, and slowly and sadly borne out of the 
village. 

Following the course of the Lulimala till they came to a 
reach where the current was interrupted by numerous little 
islands, the party found Kalunganjova awaiting them on a 
little knoll, and under his superintendence the embarkation 



The Last Stage. 



335 



proceeded rapidly, whilst Livingstone, who was to be 
taken over when the rough work was done, rested on his 
litter in a shady place. 

The canoes not being wide enough to admit of the 
litter being laid in any one of them, it was now a 
difficult question how best to get the doctor across. 
Taking his bed off his litter, the men placed it in the 
strongest canoe and tried to lift him on to it, but he "could 
not bear the pain of a hand being placed under his back/' 
Making a sign to Chumah, our hero then faintly whispered 
a request to him "to stoop down over him as low as 
possible, so that he might clasp his hands together behind 
his head," at the same time begging him " to avoid putting 
any pressure on the lumbar region of the back." His wishes 
were tenderly carried out, and in this manner he was laid 
in the canoe, ferried over as rapidly as possible, and once 
more placed in his litter on the other side. 

Susi now hastened on with several servants to the next 
village, the now celebrated Ohitambo's, to superintend the 
building of a house for the reception of his beloved master, 
the rest of the party following more slowly, and bearing 
their precious charge " through swamps and plashes," till 
they came, to their great relief, to something " like a dry 
plain at last." 

The strength of the great explorer was now ebbing 
rapidly away. Chumah, who helped to carry him on this 
the very last stage of his journey, says that he and his 
comrades were every now and then " implored to stop and 
place their burden on the ground." Sometimes a drowsi- 
ness came over the sufferer, and he seemed insensible to all 
that was going on ; sometimes he suffered terribly for want 
of water, of which, now that it was so sorely needed, not a 



336 Hut built for the dying Hero. 

drop could be obtained, until, fortunately, they met a 
member of their party returning from Chitambo's, with a 
supply thoughtfully sent off by Susi. 

A little later, a clearing was reached, and Livingstone 
again begged to be set down and left alone, but at that 
very moment the first huts of Chitambo's village came in 
sight, and his bearers begged him to endure yet a little 
longer, that they might place him under shelter. 

Arrived at last, on the 29 th April, at Chitambo's, the 
party found the house their fellow-servants were building 
still unfinished, and were therefore compelled to lay their 
master " under the broad eaves of a native hut" for a time. 
Though the village was then nearly empty, a number of 
natives soon collected about the litter, to gaze as they leant 
upon their bows " in silent wonder upon him whose praises 
had reached them in previous years." 

When the house was ready, our hero's bed was placed 
inside it, "raised from the floor by sticks and grass;" bales 
and boxes, one of the latter serving as a table, were 
arranged at one end; a fire was lighted outside, nearly 
opposite the door; and Livingstone was tenderly and 
reverently carried from his temporary resting-place to that 
which was to be his last. A boy named Majwara was 
appointed to sleep inside the house, to attend to the 
patient's wants, and the night of the 29th April passed 
over quietly. 

On the 30th Chitambo came early in the morning to pay 
his respects to his guest, but Livingstone was too ill to 
attend to him, and begged him "to call again on the 
morrow, when he hoped to have more strength to talk to 
him." In the afternoon the doctor asked Susi to bring 
him his watch, and showed him how to hold it in 



Livingstone s Last Words. 



337 



the palm of his hand, whilst he himself moved the key. 
The rest of the day passed without incident, and in the 
evening the men not on duty silently repaired to their huts, 
whilst those whose turn it was to watch sat round their 
fires, waiting for the end which they felt to be rapidly 
approaching. 

At about 11 p.m. Livingstone sent for Susi, and loud 
shouts being at the moment heard in the distance, said to 
him, " Are our men making that noise ?" 

" No," replied Susi, adding that he believed it was only 
the natives scaring away a buffalo from their durra fields. 
A few minutes later, Livingstone said slowly, " Is this the 
Lualaba ?" his mind evidently wandering to the great 
river which had so long been the object of his search. 
" No," said Susi, " we are in Chitambo's village, near the 
Lulimala." 

A long silence ensued, and then the doctor said in 
Suaheli, an Arab dialect, " How many days is it to the 
Lualaba?" and Susi answered in the same language, "I 
think it is three days, master." 

A few seconds later, Livingstone exclaimed, " Oh dear ! 
oh dear !" as if in terrible suffering, and then fell asleep. 
Susi, who then left his master to his repose, was recalled in 
about an hour by Majwara, and on reaching the doctor's 
bedside received instructions to boil some water, for which 
purpose he went to the fire outside to fill his kettle. On 
his return, Livingstone told him to. bring his medicine 
chest and to hold the candle near him. These instructions 
being obeyed, he took out out a bottle of calomel, told Susi 
to put it, an empty cup, and one with a little water in it, 
within reach of his hand, and then added in a very low 
voice, " All right ; you can go out now." 



338 



Livingstone Found Deads 



This was the last sentence ever spoken by Livingstone 
in human hearing. At about 4 a.m. of the next day, 1st 
May, Majwara came once more to call Susi, saying, " Come 
to Bwana (his name for Livingstone) ; I am afraid. I don't 
know if he is alive." 

Susi, noticing the boy's terror, and fearing the worst, now 
aroused five of his comrades, and with them entered the 
doctor's hut, to find the great explorer kneeling, as if in 
prayer, by the side of his bed, "his head buried in his 
hands upon the pillow." 

" For a minute," says Dr. Waller, " they watched him ; 
he did not stir ; there was no sign of breathing ; then one 
of them advanced softly to him and placed his hands to his 
cheeks." It was enough ; Livingstone was dead. He had 
probably expired soon after Susi left him, dying as he had 
lived, in quiet unostentatious reliance upon his divine 
Father. "History," says Banning, one of the members 
of the Brussels Conference, " contains few pages more 
touching, or of a more sublime character, than the 
simple narrative of this silent and solitary death of a 
great man, the martyr to a great cause." 

Thus, on the 1st May, 1873, ended the earthly career of 
the greatest hero of modern geographical discovery, and of 
one of the noblest-hearted philanthropists of the present 
century. Very sadly, very tenderly, very reverently 
Livingstone's servants laid the corpse of their beloved 
master on his bed, and retired to consult together round 
their watch-fire as to what should next be done. 

The following day it was unanimously decided that Susi 
and Chumah, who were "old men in travelling and in hard- 
ship," should act as captains of the caravan, the men 
engaged by Stanley promising faithfully to obey them. 



THE FUNERAL PROCESSION TO THE COAST. 



Embalmment of Livingstone s Body, 339 

All agreed further that the body of Livingstone must be 
preserved and carried back to Zanzibar. With the ready 
co-operation of Chitambo, a strong hut, open to the 
air at the top, was built for the performance of the last 
melancholy offices. A native mourner was engaged to sing 
the usual dirge before the commencement of the post- 
mortem examination, and on the 3rd May he arrived. 
Wearing the anklets proper to the occasion, " composed of 
rows of hollow seed-vessels, he sang the following chant, 
dancing all the while — 

" To-day the Englishman is dead, 

Who has different hair from ours ; 

Come round to see the Englishman." 

After this concession to the customs of the people 
amongst whom they found themselves, Livingstone's 
faithful servants carried his remains to the hut prepared 
for them, where J acob Wainwright read the burial service in 
the presence of all his comrades. The great hero's heart was 
removed and buried in a tin a little distance from the hut, 
and the body was "left to be fully exposed to the sun. JSTo 
other means were taken to preserve it beyond placing some 
brandy in the mouth, and some on the hair." 

At the end of fourteen days, the body, thus simply "em- 
balmed," was " wrapped' round in some calico, the legs 
being bent inwards at the knees to shorten the package," 
which was placed in a cylinder ingeniously constructed out 
of the bark of a tree. Over the whole a piece of sail-cloth 
was sewn, and the strange coffin was then securely lashed 
to a strong pole, so that it could be carried by the men in 
the manner figured in our illustration. 

Under the superintendence of Jacob Wainwright, an 
inscription was carved on a large tree near the place where 

2 c— (S.A.) 



340 



The Procession to the Coast. 



the body was exposed, giving the name of the deceased 
hero and the date of his death. Chitanibo promised to 
guard this memorial as a sacred charge, and the melancholy 
procession started on the return journey. 

Completing the circuit of Bangweolo, the men crossed 
the Lualaba near its entry into the lake on the west, thus 
supplementing their master's work, and, turning eastward 
beyond the great river which had so long been the goal of 
his efforts, they made for the route he had followed 
on his trip to the south in 1868. A short halt at 
Cazembe's was succeeded by an uneventful trip eastwards to 
Lake Tanganyika, rounding the southern extremity of 
which the funeral procession rapidly made its way in a 
north-easterly direction to Unyanyembe, where it arrived 
in the middle of October, 1873. Here Lieutenant Cameron, 
the leader, and Dr. Dillon and Lieutenant Murphy, mem- 
bers of a new Livingstone Eelief Expedition sent out by 
the Eoyal Geographical Society, were resting before starting 
westwards. After the sad news of the doctor's death had 
been communicated to them and confirmed by indisputable 
evidence, Cameron did all in his power to help and relieve 
the brave fellows who had brought the hero's dead body 
and all belonging to him thus far in safety. Then, finding 
them unwilling to surrender their charge before reaching the 
coast, although he himself thought that Livingstone might 
have wished to be buried in the same land as his wife, he 
allowed them to proceed, Dr. Dillon and Lieutenant 
Murphy accompanying them. 

Soon after the march to the coast began, Dr. Dillon, 
rendered delirious by his sufferings from fever ana 
dysentery, shot himself in his tent, but Susi, Chumah, and 
their comrades arrived safely at Bagamoyo in February, 



Funeral in Westminster Abbey. 341 

1874, where they delivered up their beloved master's 
remains to the Acting English Consul, Captain Prideaux, 
under whose care they were conveyed to Zanzibar in one 
of Her Majesty's cruisers, thence to be sent to England 
on board the Malwa, for interment in Westminster Abbey. 

To describe the stately funeral which was accorded to 
the simple-hearted hero in our national cemetery would be 
beyond our province, but none who read the glowing news- 
paper accounts of the long procession, the crowds of 
mourners, and the orations in honour of the deceased, can 
fail to have been touched by the contrast they offered to 
his lonely death in the wilderness, untended by any but 
the poor natives whose affections he had won by his gentle- 
ness and patience in the hardships and privations they had 
endured together, and to whom alone we are indebted for 
the privilege of numbering his grave amongst our sacred 
national possessions. 




JtAFFIR MISSION CHURCH, 



CHAPTEE X. 



CAMERON S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA. 



Cameron appointed to the Command of the Livingstone Relief Expedition 
— Arrival at Zanzibar — To Bagamoyo — Fracas with an Arab — Robert 
Moffat — To Mkombenga — Dillon's Illness — Arrival of Murphy and 
News of Moffat's Death — Across Ugogo and Mgunda M'kali to Unyan- 
yembe— Long Delay and Serious Illness — News of Livingstone's 
Death — Arrival of Livingstone's Body — Dillon and Murphy start with 
it for the Coast — Dillon's Suicide — Cameron resolves to go west alone 
— From Unyanyembe to Ujiji — Cruise on Lake Tanganyika — Discovery 
of the Lukuga, the Outlet of Tanganyika — Back again to Ujiji — From 
Ujiji to Manyuema — The Lualaba at last — Up the River to Nyangwe 
— No Canoes to be had — Disappointment and Resolution to go with 
Tipo-Tipo — News of Lake Sankorra — To Tipo-Tipo's Camp on the 
Lomani — Conflicts with Natives and Fever — At Kasono's — Hopes of 
going thence to Lake Sankorra disappointed — Trip to Lake Molonga — 
An Ambush — Cameron's Goat Stolen — Fight with Natives — Escape 
to another Village and Entrenchment there — Peace — Off again for 
Lake Mohyra — Arrival on its Shores — Floating Villages and 
Huts — Back to Kilemba — Decides to go to Benguela with Alvez 
— Trip to Lake Kassali — Return to Kilemba — Start for the AVest at 
last — Horrors by the way — Arrival in Portuguese Districts in Absolute 
Destitution — Sale of Shirts and Great-coat for Food — Kamgumba's 
Gift of a Goat — Arrival at Alvez Settlement and Journey thence to 
Benguela — The Sea at last — Welcome from M. Cauchoix — Serious 
Illness at Katombela — Voyage to St. Paul de Loanda — Reception there 
— Embarkation for England. 

inptHE hero of our present chapter offered his services to 



expedition for the relief of Livingstone, as soon as the 




Society, as commander of an 



Cameron s Illness at Zanzibar. 



343 



report of the breaking up of that under Dawson 
reached England, but not until the end of 1872 was any 
definite plan decided on. At that date, however, it was 
determined " to utilise the surplus from the subscriptions 
to the first Livingstone Search Expedition in fitting out 
another, which was to be placed entirely under the orders 
of Dr. Livingstone for the purpose of supplementing his 
great discoveries." 

To the new command, Lieutenant Lovett Cameron, R.N., 
was, to his great delight, appointed. Cheerfully giving up 
a scheme of his own for the exploration of the route to the 
Victoria JSTVanza via Mounts Kilimandjaro and Kenia, and 
for a journey by way of the Albert N'yanza, Ulegga, and 
JSTyangwe to the Congo and the West Coast, he threw him- 
self heart and soul into carrying out the instructions lie 
received, namely, to follow the old route to Ujiji, and 
thence make his way to the scene of the doctor's labours, 
wherever that might be. 

Accompanied by an old friend and messmate, Mr. W. E. 
Dillon, an assistant-surgeon in the lloyal Navy, he arrived 
at Zanzibar in December, 1872, to begin his experiences in 
Eastern Africa somewhat inauspiciously by succumbing to 
a severe attack of fever. The house of our old friend Dr. 
Kirk being already occupied by members of Sir Bartle 
Frere's mission to the Sultan of Zanzibar, our hero took up 
his quarters in the English gaol, but was soon carried over 
by some former messmates to the ship Briton, then at 
anchor in the harbour, where he rapidly recovered. 

Eejoining Dillon, who had been actively engaged during 
his comrade's illness in laying in stores, &c, Cameron now 
at once began to look out for men and donkeys for his 
great journey westwards. Having first secured the services 



344 Bombay's Carelessness and its Results. 

of Bombay, the chief of Speke's escort, our hero imagined 
that he should have little further trouble in organising his 
expedition, but unfortunately that black hero, as many 
another had been before him, was spoilt by the fuss which 
had been made about him, and now presumed on his previous 
reputation, taking advantage of his master's inexperience, 
and so forth. 

Commissioned to find " thirty good men and true/' 
Bombav made a ^reat show of eagerness and ener^v, but it 
subsequently transpired that he picked up his servants at 
hap-hazard, without any enquiry into their characters or 
abilities, the result being that the start was finally made 
under most unfavourable circumstances. Arrived at 
Bagamoyo, already the point of departure for so many 
expeditions, on the 2nd February, 1873, accompanied by 
Dillon and a young lieutenant named Murphy, who had 
now joined the party, Cameron hoped rapidly to organise 
a camp, and to start for the interior immediately after the 
arrival of his heavy stores expected from England by the 
next mail ; but not until the end of the month, when the 
rainy season was fast approaching, was he really in a 
position to turn his face westwards. Again and again his 
men deserted, and instead of the select corps of experienced 
porters, guides, &c, Bombay was to have procured, he had 
to keep together, by combined threats and promises, a set 
of lazy independent fellows, " not more than one-tenth of 
whom had ever travelled any distance into the interior, and 
who, not being accustomed to carrying loads, gave trouble 
at every step." 

On the very eve of departure, an untoward incident 
occurred which seemed likely to cost Cameron his life. He, 
with Dillon and Murphy, were superintending the watering 



Fracas with a,n Arab. 



345 



of the donkeys — for nothing could be done thoroughly except 
under the master's own eye — when a dispute arose between 
one of the donkey-boys and a slave girl as to which should 
first draw water at the well. " An Arab rushed at the boy 
and began thrashing him," and one of Cameron's men in 
his turn attacked the Arab, hitting him on the head with a 
big stick, and finally knocking him down, and nearly 
stunning him. Unable, he tells us, to sanction such 
summary justice, Cameron had his man arrested, but as 
soon as the Arab was on his feet again he went off vowing 
vengeance, and returned almost immediately, brandishing a 
sword, and vowing he would " kill a dog of a Nazarene and 
then die happy." 

The Arab was followed by a crowd of gesticulating 
friends, who, in spite of their own wrath, had fortunately 
sense enough to prevent him from carrying out his inten- 
tion, whilst Cameron ordered his men to keep quiet, feeling- 
sure that the first blow or shot from them would lead to a 
general meiee. For several minutes, which must have 
appeared like hours, the three Englishmen, all completely 
unarmed, walked up and down between their own men and 
the crowd. Several times the Arab, who had now worked 
himself into a state of frenzy, broke loose, and once 
approached Cameron so closely, that our hero was calcula- 
ting the chances of being able to catch his wrist to pre- 
vent his cutting him down. Before any real mischief 
was done, however, relief came in the shape of a body of 
the Sultan's troops, under a certain Jemadar Issa, to whom 
Cameron stated his case, thinking he would of course arrest 
the Arab, have him punished, and so put an end to the 
matter. Not a bit of it. The furious madman, for such he 
had now become, was allowed to walk off unmolested, and 



346 Appeal to the Commander -in- Chief. 

shortly afterwards, Cameron's landlord came to tell him 
that his shop had been broken into by the Arab and his 
friends, and that the former threatened to kill him if he 
would not show him the way to the Nazarene's rooms. 

A message was at once sent to Jemadar Issa, to the 
effect that the British flag had been insulted by an attack 
on the house over which it was flying, and if the culprit 
were not at once arrested the matter would be referred to 
the admiral at Zanzibar. The facts of the case were also 
made known without a moment's delay to Jemadar Sabr, 
commander-in-chief of the Sultan's forces on this part of 
the coast, and whilst waiting for the arrival of succour, the 
three besieged heroes amused themselves, and showed their 
British sang-froid, by washing their dogs, a passing thunder- 
storm having supplied them with plenty of water! "Whilst 
engaged," says Cameron, " in this interesting operation, in 
a light costume consisting only of pyjamas and soap-suds, 
the turban of Jemadar Sabr appeared at the top of the 
ladder, and we had to bolt incontinently and dress suffi- 
ciently to receive him with due respect." 

At first his military highness declared he could do nothing, 
he had no power, and so forth ; but the Englishmen main- 
tained their first position, knowing well that the general 
would lose his position if they carried out their threat of 
reporting the matter to Zanzibar. Finally, the point at 
issue w r as yielded, the Arab was arrested, and sent to 
prison. Then followed two days' palaver before the further 
action to be taken could be decided on, the jemadar wishing 
the man to be released, whilst Cameron insisted on his 
begging pardon, or being sent to the Sultan. 

On the third day, however, Cameron was surprised by 
receiving a visit from the father of the offender, a fine 



Serious Illness of Dillon. 



347 



dignified grey-bearded old Arab, who fell on his knees 
before the young Englishman, kissing his hands, and 
pleading so pathetically for the forgiveness of his son that 
our hero was mollified. Unable to bear the sight of the 
old man's humiliation, he consented that the son should be 
released, but added that in future he and his companions 
would carry pistols, and any further molestation would be 
punished by instant death. 

The old Arab withdrew with many protestations of 
gratitude, and so, to the relief of all concerned, the matter 
ended. A few days later a camp was formed out- 
side Bagamoyo, and, early in March, Dillon went on in 
advance to the village of Kikoka, only to be summoned 
back almost immediately to attend the sick-bed of Murphy, 
who was struck down by fever. A little later the party 
was joined by Eobert Moffat, a young grandson of Dr. 
Moffat, and nephew of Livingstone ; and, leaving Murphy 
under the care of the new-comer, Cameron and Dillon 
made a fresh start for the interior, reaching Kikoka in a 
few days, and leaving it for what may be called the true 
march to the interior on the 28th March, 1873. 

After a dreary journey across country, extending over 
nearly a month, the dreaded Makata swamp was entered, 
and now wading, now swimming, the village of Mkombenga 
was reached early in April, where Dillon was taken so ill 
as to be unable to proceed. A day's rest producing no good 
results, Cameron pressed on for the higher and more 
healthy village of Eehenneko, whence he sent back a ham- 
mock for Dillon. The next day the surgeon arrived, very 
ill, and it became necessary to organise the camp for a long 
halt. The men's huts were arranged " in a large outer 
circle, and in the centre a plot was fenced in for the tents 



348 



Death of Robert Moffat. 



of the leader, the guard-room, and storehouse, the space 
between the men's huts and those of Dillon and Cameron 
being used for picketing the donkeys at night." 

In this temporary home poor Dillon lay between life 
and death for about a fortnight, and Cameron, who was 
lame from an abscess on his foot, passed the time of 
inaction as best he could, now quelling a strike amongst 
his men by firmness and decision, now receiving visits from 
the chiefs and Arab traders of the neighbourhood. 

On the 20th May Dillon began to recover, but on the 
same day Cameron was saddened by receiving a letter from 
Murphy telling him of the dangerous illness of Moffat. 
Murphy was then on his way to join his leader, and on the 
20th May his caravan came in sight. Seeing only one 
white man amongst the crowd of dusky figures approach- 
ing them, Cameron and Dillon simultaneously exclaimed, 
" Where is the other ? Who is the missing one ?" 

Limping down the hill on which his camp was pitched, 
Cameron soon recognised Murphy, and eagerly enquired, 
"Where is Moffat ?" "Dead," was the simple and terrible 
answer. "How, when, and where?" asked Cameron, 
inexpressibly shocked at the sad close to the gallant boy's 
career, and Murphy related how the poor young fellow had 
fallen a victim to the climate near the Makata swamp, and 
was buried beneath a tall palm tree near a plain. 

Murphy himself w T as still ill from fever, and neither 
Cameron nor Dillon had really fully recovered their strength, 
yet it was resolved to waste no further time in inaction, 
but to push on without delay for Unyanyembe. 

The whole of the expedition was now assembled, and 
consisted of Cameron, Dillon, and Murphy, a man named 
Issa, to act as storekeeper, Bombay and thirty-five men 



Arrival at Unyanyembe. 



349 



under him as escort, ninety-two porters, six servants, 
several cooks, and three boys. There were also twenty- 
two donkeys and three dogs. 

The start was finally made on the 30th May, 1873, and, 
following the usual route, the caravan safely made the 
ascent of the rugged passes of Ugogo, already more than 
once referred to, and early in July, a day or two after the 
great hero whose relief was the object of the expedition 
had breathed his last, the camp was pitched on the out- 
skirts of Kanyenge, a broad depression in the centre of 
Ugogo. Here Chief Makomba, who was in power when 
Burton passed through in 1857, was still reigning, and was 
said by his subjects to be over " three hundred years of 
age and to be cutting his fourth set of teeth, the third set 
having worked out in 1870." 

Beyond Ugogo, as will be remembered, comes the 
Mgunda M'kali desert, which was entered by Cameron 
about the middle of July, and found to be far less dreary 
and desolate than it had been in the time of Burton and 
Speke. Traversing it rapidly, our hero entered the Land 
of the Moon before the end of the same month, and about 
the 3rd August arrived within sight of Unyanyembe. A 
letter was sent to him the next morning by the governor, 
Said bin Salim, inviting him and his comrades to breakfast, 
and placing a house at his service during his stay in the 
town. Both these seasonable offers were readily accepted, 
and, before many hours were over, our heroes were com- 
fortably settled in a commodious house, which, it turned 
out, had already been lent both to Livingstone and Stanley. 

The first stage of Cameron's great journey was now over, 
and he prepared to make final arrangements for joining 
Livingstone, and placing his services at his disposal, little 



350 



Seriotcs Illness of Cameron. 



dreaming that the procession bearing his great predecessor's 
corpse to the coast was even then approaching Unyan- 
yembe. Mutinies amongst our hero's men and several 
severe attacks of fever led to a long delay in the capital of 
Unyamwesi, and the party was still waiting to proceed, 
when there arrived a caravan from Mtesa, king of Uganda 
(see our Heroes of Discovery in North Africa), bringing 
a letter from Sir Samuel Baker to Dr. Livingstone. 

Feeling that circumstances justified him in availing him- 
self of every means of ascertaining the whereabouts of 
the great South African explorer, Cameron opened the 
letter, which turned out to be dated from Fort Fatiko, but 
gave no clue to the situation of the person to whom it was 
addressed. 

Soon after this disappointment, a more severe attack of 
fever than he had yet experienced completely prostrated 
Cameron, leaving him almost blind, and the narrative of 
his experience is continued in his account of his journey 
by extracts from letters from Dillon, in which touching 
accounts are given of the young commander's delirious 
ravings. Not until the middle of October did there seem 
any real hope of his full recovery and the further prosecu- 
tion of his journey. On the 19th he was able to attend an 
auction, in which, after seeing a number of household 
utensils, trading stores, &c, knocked down to the highest 
bidder, he witnessed the melancholy spectacle of the 
sale of a number of male and female slaves, who were led 
round to the buyers, " made to show their teeth, to cough, 
run, and lift weights, and in some instances to exhibit 
their dexterity in handling a musket." One woman, a good 
cook, fetched 200 dollars, and some of the men eighty 
dollars. 



News of Livingstone s Death. 351 

On the 20th October, 1873, a day ever memorable in the 
history of South African exploration, as Cameron, to quote 
his own words, "lay on his bed prostrate, listless, and 
enfeebled from repeated attacks of fever, his mind dazed 
and confused with whirling thoughts and fancies of home 
and those dear ones far away," his servant, Mahommed 
Malim, came into his tent, holding a letter in his hand. 

Snatching it from the man, Cameron eagerly asked 
whence it came, receiving the enlightening reply, " Some 
man bring him/' 

Opening it with trembling fingers, Cameron found it to 
be a letter from Livingstone's servant, Jacob Wainwright> 
addressed to Mr. Oswell Livingstone, and couched in the 
following terms : — 

" Sir, — We have heared in the month of August that you 
have started from Zanzibar for Unyanyembe, and again 
lately we have heared your arrivel — your father died by 
disease beyond the country of Bisa, but we have carried 
the corpse with us. 10 of our soldiers are lost, and some 
have died. Our Hanger presses us to ask you some 
clothes to buy provisions for our soldiers, and we should 
have an answer that when we shall enter there shall be 
firing guns or not, and if you permit us to fire guns, then 
send us some powder. We have wrote these few word 
in the place of Sultan or King Mbowra. 

" The Writer, Jacob Wainwpjgiit, 
" Dr. Livingstone, Exped." 

Half blind, as we have seen, poor Cameron could hardly 
decipher this strange and touching epistle. Who was 
dead — his own father or Dillon's, or whose ? Taking the 
letter to Dillon, who was also very weak from fever, the 



352 Parting between Cameron and Dillon. 



two puzzled over it together in vain, and not until the 
bearer of the letter, our old friend Chumah, presented 
himself did they learn the true state of the case, and 
realise that Livingstone was dead, and their own expedi- 
tion virtually at an end. 

Supplies for the needs of the caravan from Lake Bang- 
weolo were at once sent off, and a messenger was 
despatched to the coast with the news of the doctor's 
death. The funeral procession entered Unyanyembe a 
few clays later, and, as we have already related, pro- 
ceeded on its journey to Zanzibar on the 9th November, 
accompanied by Dillon and Murphy; whilst Cameron, 
in spite of his shattered health, determined to continue his 
journey westwards alone, and if he could no longer work 
under Livingstone, to supplement that great hero's dis- 
coveries. 

The parting between Cameron and Dillon was, as may 
be imagined, alike solemn and affecting. The health of 
both seemed shattered, and though they talked of meeting 
again in England, each was oppressed by forebodings for 
the future. In Dillon's case, as we know, these fears were 
realised all too soon. He got no further than the first 
stage of his journey eastwards before he died by his own 
hand in an access of fever and delirium. On the 20th 
November, as Cameron was proceeding on his journey to 
Ujiji, which he proposed making the starting-point for a 
thorough exploration of Lake Tanganyika, a messenger 
arrived from Murphy with the terrible news of Dillon's 
death on the 18th. Hurrying to join Murphy, Cameron 
reached Kasekerah, the scene of his beloved comrade's 
suicide, towards the end of November, and learnt that poor 
Dillon was buried in the jungle, Murphy having, as we 



Across the Malagarazi. 



353 



think needlessly, feared that, if the spot were known, the 
grave would have been desecrated by the natives. 

At Kasekerah, Cameron had to endure yet another 
delay before he was joined by Bombay and his servants, 
but on the 2nd December he once more resumed his 
march, and, making a wide detour southwards to avoid the 
scene of native disturbances between Unyanyembe and 
Ujiji, he passed through the comparatively unknown 
district of Ugunda, to come to a stop again on the borders 
of Ugara, the road across that province being blocked 
owing to a quarrel between one of its chiefs and an Arab. 

The year 1873 was closing in misery and gloom, when 
on the 28th December came the cheering news that the 
difficulty between the disputants had been arranged, and 
the road was open. The men, it is true, at first refused to 
march, and were supported in their rebellion by Bombay ; 
but on the 30th December Cameron's patience was at last 
rewarded by seeing his caravan once more in motion. 
Pressing on due west across Ugara, with no longer delays 
than were necessary for rest and refreshment, over plains, 
up and down hills, through forests, across rivers, the 
gallant young hero led his grumbling and unwilling 
followers, and on the 5th February we find him at Ugaga, 
on the banks of the now well-known Malagarazi, having, 
to quote his own significant words, crossed " the watershed 
between the basin of the Bufigi and those of the Mle and 
the Congo." 

As usual, a heavy toll was demanded for permission to 
cross the river, but after a long parley six canoes were 
obtained at a not very exorbitant price, and about the 7th 
February the Malagarazi was left behind. On the 18th of 
the same month Cameron at last came in sight of Tangan- 



354 



On Lake Tanganyika. 



yika, and hurrying down to its shores he found, to his great 

delight, two large canoes which had been sent for his use 
by the Arabs at Ujiji. The leader of the expedition and 
his principal followers at once embarked, and after " an 
hour's pull/' Kawele, the landing-place of Ujiji, was 
reached. 

Thus closed the second stage of the journey across 
Africa. Cheered by his success thus far, and by the hearty 
reception accorded to him, Cameron's first care was to 
inquire after some valuable papers left by Livingstone in 
the care of a certain Mahommed bin Sabib, an Arab of 
high repute in Ujiji. The papers were safe, and, relieved 
of his anxiety on their account, Cameron set to work to 
obtain boats for his cruise on Lake Tanganyika, in which 
he hoped finally to solve the question of its outlet, left 
undetermined by Livingstone and Stanley. 

On the 13th March, after rather more than the ordinary 
amount of haggling, &c, two boats were finally embarked 
on the lake, the first, named the Betsy, containing Cameron 
himself and his immediate attendants ; the second, named 
the Pickle, serving as a kind of tender. 

Turning the Betsy's head southwards, our hero cruised 
along the eastern shores of the lake, which he describes as 
of exceeding beauty, touching now at one village, now at 
another, and passing many floating islands, till he came on 
the 23rd March to the promontory of Eaz Kungwe (S. lat. 
6°), near the narrowest part of Tanganyika, beyond which 
the great sheet of water had not yet been explored, or 
even seen by a white man. 

Eouncling Raz Kungwe, Cameron now proceeded slowly 
and cautiously on his way, noting every peculiarity of the 
scenery on his left, and of the islands on his right. For 



A Long Search. 



355 



the first time, in spite of all the difficulties he had had to 
encounter, he was able to feel himself to be an explorer, 
and he allowed not an incident of his voyage to escape 
him. His men again and again entreated him to go back, 
crying on the slightest swell of the water, " Lake bad ; 
canoes break again." 

"What would I not have given for a man-of-war's 
whaler and crew for six weeks !" cries Cameron in his 
narrative. " T should then have been able to do some- 
thing thoroughly satisfactory, instead of creeping in and 
out of bays." But in spite of the " creeping," in spite of 
recurrent fever, perpetual delays at villages or on islands, 
something thoroughly satisfactory vjas finally accomplished. 
The Betsy safely passed many a reputed "devil's habitation," 
its dweller propitiated by offerings from the dusky sailors. 
Cape after cape was rounded, interview after interview 
with the astonished natives of the coast ended in satisfac- 
tion to both parties, and the second week in April found 
Cameron camping near a village on the river Kisungi, 
where Livingstone had once halted on his last journey. 
A little rest, and then past the districts of Ufipa and 
Masombe pressed the two boats, to reach about the middle 
of April the village of Kasangalowa, within sight of the 
end of the lake and of the districts so recently traversed 
by Livingstone. 

The Betsy's head was now turned due west, and, crossing 
the lake in one long day's pull, the expedition landed on 
the south-western shores, to re-embark almost immediately 
and cruise in a northerly direction. Numerous small 
streams and torrents were passed, but still no river of 
dignity sufficient to be Tanganyika's outlet, when, 
about noon on the 3rd May, 1874, the entrance of the 
2 d — (s.a.) 



356 Discovery of the Ltikugct. 



outflowing Luhuga was reached, and, as we have seen, 
the true position of Lake Tanganyika in the Congo system 
determined. 

As has so often been the case in geographical ex- 
ploration, the discovery of the Lukuga, through which 
the Tanganyika pours the whole volume of its waters 
into the Lualaba, took place quietly and unostentatiously. 
The eutrance of the Lukuga is described by Cameron 
as more than a mile across, " but closed by a grass-grown 
sand-bank, with the exception of a channel three or 
four hundred yards wide." " Across this," he adds, 
K there is a rill, where the surf breaks heavily at times, 
although there is more than a fathom of water at its 
most shallow part." 

The chief, who received his white visitor very cour- 
teously, informed him that the river fell after a month's 
journey into the Lualaba, receiving the Lulumbiji and 
many smaller streams on its way. In spite of very heavy 
rain, Cameron, escorted by the chief, ascended the Lukuga 
for some few miles, until navigation become impossible 
owing to the masses of floating vegetation. A passage 
might, however, be cut through this grass — a familiar 
phenomenon in Africa — though Cameron was unfortunately 
compelled to refrain from attempting it, as it would 
have cost more than he had at his command to make a 
channel and obtain canoes ; but he obtained much corro- 
borative evidence in his further journey of the truth of 
the chiefs assertions. It is a noteworthy fact, also, that 
the enibouchares of the small streams flowing into the 
Lukuga are all " turned from the lake, and that the 



Across Manyuema. 



357 



weed set in the same direction " — slight and apparently 
insignificant details, yet forming links in the chain of 
evidence, tending to prove that the Tanganyika is not, 
as was by many long supposed, connected with the 
N'yanzas on the north-east. 

Leaving the mouth of the Lukuga, Cameron now crossed 
the lake, and arrived in safety at Ujiji on the 9 th May. 
On the 22nd of May he again left that town for his 
journey to Manyuema, crossing the lake and arriving on 
the shores of Uguhha towards the close of the month. On 
the 31st he started in high spirits for ISTyangw^, buoyed 
up, he tells us, with a hope of floating, in boats to be 
obtained in the town, " down the unknown waters of the 
Congo to the West Coast in two or three months." 

Passing over rugged hills, the last buttresses of the 
mountains of Ugoma, he soon reached Euanda, the capital 
of Uguhha, set down in a fertile plain stretching away on 
the south to the Lukuga. Here the population turned out 
en masse to stare at the white man, forming quite a lane as 
he passed through the place, whilst a sheep which had 
" got hemmed in before him heralded his approach by a 
frantic baaing," inexpressibly ludicrous. Beyond Euanda 
several small streams, tributaries of the Lukuga, were 
crossed, and the beginning of June found the party in the 
picturesque village of Meketo, " lying in a broad deep 
valley drained by the Kaca," where a delay of several days 
occurred owing to the pretended illness of the men, who 
wished to evade carrying their loads. From Meketo a 
long march in a north-westerly direction without a regular 
halt was made to the village of Pakwanywa, chief of 
Ubudjwa, which was reached on the 20th June. 

At Pakwanywa' s settlement Cameron learnt that a large 



358 



In Many'iiema. 



caravan, under the leadership of an Arab named Muinyi 
Hassani, was waiting for him " a few days in front ; " and 
though unwilling to cast in his lot with a slave-dealer 
such as he knew Hassani to be, he decided that it would 
be better to do so than to arouse any opposition or jealousy. 
On joining the caravan, the exploring expedition was 
welcomed with much " outward civility, but little else," 
and Cameron found himself, as Livingstone had been 
before him, the companion of men whose aims he detested, 
and whose constant presence hampered his every move- 
ment. 

On the 22nd of June the united forces started on the 
march for Manyuema, following much the same route as 
Livingstone had done under similar circumstances, and, 
alas ! witnessing the same dreary round of misery and 
oppression. True, a hollow peace now reigned between the 
traders and the natives, but gagged slaves formed part of 
the daily procession, deserted and half-destroyed villages 
were passed again and again, and only in rare instances 
was Cameron able to see the people living peacefully and 
naturally in their homes. Our illustration gives a view of 
a principal town in Manyuema, situated on the western 
side of the mountains of Bambarr^, forming the eastern 
boundary of that now celebrated district. 

As the caravan advanced, the attitude of the natives 
became more and more hostile, and at Karungu, a group of 
villages a few days' march from Nyangw^, matters appear 
to have reached their climax. Cameron tells us that he 
was quietly reading and writing in his tent, when he heard 
musketry fire and a great disturbance in the Arab camp. 
Hastening out to ascertain what was wrong, he saw the 
natives flying in every direction, pursued by the trader's 



Conflict between Arabs and Natives. 359 

men. Collecting his own party, Cameron ordered them 
neither to leave the camp nor to fire at the natives unless 
driven to do so in self-defence ; and then, going over to 
Muinyi Hassani, he inquired what the excitement was all 
about. 

Hassani's account was that the natives of some villages, 
recently injured by members of the Arab caravan, had 
followed the latter with a view to making reprisals, and, 
in order to bring matters to a crisis, two chiefs had ordered 
that something should be stolen from the Arabs, knowing 
that they would demand its restitution. 

This programme was duly carried out. A box of beads 
was stolen ; the Arabs sent messages respecting it, and the 
chiefs, confident in the numbers of natives lurking in 
ambush in the neighbouring woods, came in person to 
refuse restitution, " unless payment were made for every- 
thing which had been stolen or destroyed in their villages. " 

To this Muinyi Hassani of course declined to accede, 
and the chiefs, rising to go away, said that if the Arabs 
wanted the box, they had better fetch it. At that moment 
the poor natives were shot down by some armed Wan- 
yanwesi in the service of Hassani, and a general mSltfe 
began. Telling the Arab leader that he had been greatly 
in the wrong, and that he should not therefore allow one 
of his own men to aid him against the natives, Cameron 
returned to his own quarters, saddened as he went by the 
sight of burning villages on every side, whilst crowds of 
poor women and children were being brought into the 
Arab camp as captives by the pagazi in Hassani 's employ. 

In the afternoon the natives, at first driven back by 
their fear of the muskets of the Arabs, assembled in great 
force, and Cameron tried in vain to persuade Hassani to 



360 



Slaves set free by Cameron. 



make peace. Another struggle ensued, and it seemed likely 
that there would be a general massacre of the natives, when, 
fortunately for all parties, Kanwassi, the son of a chief 
friendly to the Arabs, visited Cameron in his camp, and 
was by him persuaded to interfere. 

After a long parley the Arabs agreed to listen to terms ; 
a grand palaver was held, in which blood was exchanged 
between certain native chiefs and members of the Arab 
caravan, in the manner described in our Heroes of Dis- 
covery in North Africa; some horrible mixture was handed 
round and tasted by all, and peace was finally concluded. 

Cameron then tried to obtain the release of the prisoners, 
and after a good deal of opposition he got his own way, on 
condition that ransom should be paid for them, lest the 
natives should think such an unusual concession was 
dictated by fear. Glad to have aided in the smallest 
degree in preventing farther atrocities, Cameron now 
resumed his march for Nyangw^, but before proceeding far, 
he ascertained that some slaves captured at Karungu were 
still in the caravan, and a stormy interview with Hassani 
ensued. Finding quiet remonstrances ineffectual, our hero 
finally told the Arab leader that, if necessary, he would set 
the captives free by force, for he was determined that the 
English colours, which had brought freedom to so many 
on both coasts of Africa, should not be disgraced in the 
heart of the continent. 

The slaves were at last set at liberty, and Cameron 
resolved to have nothing more to do with Hassani ; but 
when, a day or two later, the Arab was struck down by 
fever, he could not resist doing his best to help and nurse 
him, receiving, however, not one word of thanks for his 
trouble. 



Up the Ltialaba to Nyangwi. 361 

Another two marches, in which Cameron kept his own 
party as much as possible away from that of Hassani, 
brought the advanced guard in sight of the mighty Lualaba, 
and from an overhanging bluff our young hero looked down 
for the first time upon the great stream so inseparably 
connected with the memory of his predecessor. Canoes 
were numerous on the banks, and hastening down, full of 
hope of accomplishing great things, now that the preli- 
minary stages of his journey were over, the explorer 
engaged a boat and some natives to take him to Nyangw^ 
early the next morning, with a few of his men, leaving the 
remainder to go by land. 

On the ensuing day neither the boat nor the natives 
engaged made their appearance, but at about ten o'clock, 
as Cameron stood on the bank of the river inwardly 
chafing at the delay, he saw some men at work with their 
fishing-tackle on an island in mid-stream, and after much 
shouting and gesticulating induced them to bring him 
three canoes, which he hired and paid for on the spot. 
A very few minutes later he was actually floating on the 
Lualaba, and after a pleasant and rapid passage down the 
river, with lovely scenery on either hand, he landed at 
£Tyangw6, the most northerly point reached by Livingstone, 
and was at once eagerly welcomed by Habed bin Salim, 
alias Tanganyika, a fine white-headed old Arab, who had 
known Livingstone, and now placed store-room, &c, at the 
young explorer's disposal. 

Cameron's tent was pitched close to Tanganyika's 
house, and, scarcely allowing himself a day to rest, the 
eager traveller began making inquiries about canoes for 
that voyage to the sea on which his heart was set, but 
which, alas ! he was never to accomplish. Tanganyika, it 



362 Cameron joins Tippn-Tib. 

is true, sympathised with his impatience, and promised 
to aid him to the best of his ability, but a certain 
Muinyi Dugumbi, regarded as a headman by the natives, 
must also be won over, and that gentleman could not see 
the need of any hurry. Again and again Dugumbi pro- 
mised that a canoe should be forthcoming on market day, 
but, when market day came, evaded keeping his word. 

" Wait in my verandah," he would say on such occasions, 
" and I will go and see if there are any people who have 
canoes to sell; ,, and then, whilst Cameron impatiently 
watched for his return, he would slip home by a back 
way. From days the detention in Nyangw£ lengthened 
into weeks. News of war on the north made it im- 
possible to penetrate further in that direction, and at the 
end of a fortnight, when an Arab expedition, headed by the 
now too-well-known Tippu-Tib, arrived from a slaving 
razzia, Cameron in despair consulted its leader as to what 
he had better do. " Return with me to my permanent 
camp on the Lomani, a tributary of the Lualaba, ten 
marches south," was the reply, M and make your way 
thence across country to Lake Sankorra, on the north- 
west." 

Now Sankorra was supposed to be another link in the 
great series of which Tanganyika was the first and Bang- 
weolo the last lake discovered. Through it the Lualaba or 
Congo was said to pass on its way to the sea, and therefore 
if, as it seemed, it really was impossible to go down the 
river from Nyangwe, it would be well to accept the chief's 
offer. Bidding farewell, therefore, to Tanganyika and 
Dugumbi, Cameron started with his new friend on the 26th 
August, crossing the river in canoes lent by " Tanganyika/' 

Turning his face southwards, he now traversed a fertile 



Astonishment at Cameron 9 s Appeara7ice. 363 

and apparently prosperous country, and reached the river 
Eofubu, a tributary of the Lualaba, which was crossed by 
means of a gigantic and well-built fishing-weir bridge. 
Here a fresh access of fever prostrated Cameron for a few 
hours, but, determined not to lose what seemed his only 
chance of success by remaining behind, he soon staggered 
to his feet, and, as he tells us, " reeled along like a drunken 
man, the large white pyramidal ant-hills," plentiful in 
these parts, seeming to him in his delirious fancy to be his 
own tent, which perpetually disappeared as he reached it. 

About the 29 th August another of those unhappy 
contests between the natives and traders took place with 
which we are already too familiar, and, as usual, the 
former were worsted, though several of the Arabs were 
killed. Tippu-Tib, however, seemed to have some rough 
ideas of justice, and had several of his own porters from 
Nyangwe thrashed for taking advantage of the row to begin 
sacking a village. 

Arrived at the important settlement of the chief 
Eusuna, Cameron's appearance at first excited unlimited 
astonishment. No white man had ever before been seen, 
and the natives shrank from him as from something 
uncanny. By degrees, however, their fear wore off, and 
they came in crowds to stare at him. He soon formed the 
centre of a group of half-naked men and women, eager to 
look at the pictures and curiosities he unpacked for their 
benefit, and who presently began to handle his clothes, 
turning up the legs and sleeves of his sleeping suit, till he 
began to be afraid they meant to undress him entirely. To 
avoid this, he tells us, he " sent for some beads and cowries, 
and gave them a scramble," which diverted their attention 
from his personal peculiarities. When Eusuna himself 



364 Renewed Disappointment. 



appeared, he brought with hirn a large and finely-carved 
stool, on which he seated himself during the interview 
with our hero, one of his wives sitting before him and 
serving as a footstool. 

Early in September the village of Kasongo, on the banks 
of the Lomani, was reached, and a grand levtfe was held by 
the chief in honour of his visitors, who one and all, from 
Cameron and Tippu-Tib to the porters, decked themselves 
in their best for the occasion. The scene in the royal 
camp differed in no essential particular from any other 
Central African reception, but our hero turned it to special 
advantage by enlisting the help of Kasongo for his proposed 
trip to Sankorra. 

Once more there seemed a real chance of getting across 
to the Lualaba ; Kasongo promised to communicate the 
explorer's wishes to his brother chief on the other side of 
the Lomani, whose consent must first of all be gained, and 
Cameron settled down to a few days' rest, with happy anti- 
cipations of an early start for the north-west. But, alas ! 
his hopes were again dashed to the ground by the answer 
from the chief whose territory he would have to cross. 
" No strangers with guns/' he said, " had ever passed 
through his country, and none should, without fighting 
their way." 

Feeling that, even if it were possible to " fight his way " 
to the desired end, it would be wrong to shed blood 
except in self-defence, poor Cameron bore his disappoint- 
ment as best he could, and, after consultation with Tippu- 
Tib, resolved to proceed to the province of Urua, on the 
south-south-west, where the presence of Portuguese traders 
was reported, and to try and reach Sankorra by a detour to 
the west of the country he was forbidden to pass. He 



Cameroiis Goat Stolen. 365 



resolved, however, in the first instance to visit another 
lake called Mohyra, on the south, and accompanied by 
guides provided by Tippu-Tib and his own men, he started 
on this secondary expedition on the 12th September. 

Keeping along the banks of the Lomani, in spite of the 
protestations of Bombay, who seems to have been in league 
with the men under him to mislead his master, Cameron 
was vigorously pressing forward, when he suddenly found 
himself in an ambush of natives in a narrow strip of 
jungle, who welcomed him with a shower of arrows. One 
of the missiles glanced off his shoulder, and, catching sight 
of the man who had let it fly, our hero flung down his rifle, 
and started in pursuit. The race had not continued long 
when the native tripped and fell. Before he could struggle 
to his feet his pursuer was upon him, and after giving 
him a severe thrashing, broke his bow and arrows, and 
allowed him to rejoin his comrades. 

Advancing further, Cameron came upon a large party of 
natives blocking up the path before him with hostile 
gestures, but his conciliatory signs mollified them, and 
after a short parley they escorted him to the village of 
their chief, and executed a war-dance in honour of their 
guest. A short halt amongst these now friendly blacks 
was succeeded by quite a pleasant march to the settlement 
of Kwarumba, but just as Cameron was about to start 
again in high glee at his improved prospects, a quarrel 
occurred between him and the natives, originating in the 
stealing of a pet goat of his, named Dinah. 

On his making inquiries as to her fate, he received no 
answer, and, to use his own emphatic expression, he soon 
saw he was in for a row. The men he was speaking to 
suddenly bolted, and others who had been looking on 



366 



Conflict with Natives. 



began shooting arrows at him. Fortunately some of his 
men came up with their rifles at the critical moment, and, 
ordering the camp to be broken up, Cameron prepared for 
a retreat in one compact body, the arrows of the natives 
falling thick and fast upon his party as they carried out 
his directions. Strange to say, not one missile took effect, 
but just as the caravan was about to start, the natives were 
reinforced by a body of about five hundred men, and 
matters really began to look serious. 

Very reluctantly Cameron was compelled to order a few 
shots to be fired, and one of them taking effect " in the leg 
of a native of consideration, who was standing in what he 
imagined was a position of safety,'' a parley was proposed 
by the chief of the village, and, as may be imagined, 
eagerly accepted by our explorer. All now seemed likely 
to go well. It was agreed that the goat should be returned, 
the chief receiving a present of scarlet cloth in exchange ; 
that Bombay should " make brothers " or exchange blood 
with the headman ; that guides should be provided, &c, &c. 
Cameron was proceeding to fulfil his part of the contract 
by taking the cloth to the chief, glad to get away at any 
price, when another black dignity arrived with more armed 
men, who cried, " Don't be such a fool as to make peace 
with these people for the sake of one piece of cloth. We 
are strong enough to eat them, and can easily get every bit 
of cloth and every bead belonging to them, and themselves 
we can kill or make slaves of," &c. 

Alas ! this declaration from the new arrival, though it 
did not affect Cameron's view of the situation in the least, 
was applauded by his men. Negotiations were broken off, 
and arrows began to fly about again. Our hero now set 
fire to one hut, and threatened to burn the whole village if 



Peace at last! 



367 



he were not allowed to depart, and his rigorous action led 
to an apparently reluctant consent being given to his 
resuming his march, but in exactly the opposite direction 
to that he desired to take. This appears, however, to have 
been a mere ruse. The road Cameron was directed to take 
led through " tangled grass, scrub, belts of thick jungle, 
and open plains," and as the caravan marched along, it was 
surrounded by crowds of natives, who closed in, and dis- 
charged their arrows wherever there was any cover from 
the explorer's guns. 

After a long day's flight through a hostile country, Cameron 
managed to entrench himself in a deserted native village, 
which he named Fort Dinah, in memory of his lost goat. 
The natives, who did not venture to attack the Fort itself, 
shot at and wounded our hero's men when they went out 
to fetch water, and there seemed likely to be no end to the 
struggle, when, fortunately, a woman was captured, who 
turned out to be related to a chief named Mona Kasanga, 
and was sent to him by Cameron with a peaceful message. 
This had the desired result of convincing the natives of the 
explorer's innocent intentions; Mona Kasanga and another 
chief came to Fort Dinah to parley, and peace was quickly 
concluded. 

Almost immediately after this happy change, Cameron 
resumed his march, first, however, making a detour east 
wards to humour Mona Kasanga, and the beginning of 
October found him entering the important settlement of an 
Arab named Jumah Merikani, at the village of Kilemba. 
Merikani, who proved to be " the kindest and most hospit- 
able of the many friends found by Cameron amongst the 
Arab traders in Africa," received our hero with eager 
cordiality, and gave him more information than he had yet 



368 



Start for Lake Afohyra. 



been able to obtain respecting the course of the Lualaba. 
Merikani had himself visited the copper mines of Katanga, 
which Livingstone had made several attempts to reach ; he 
had met Burton and Speke at Ujiji ; he had seen Living- 
stone ; in a word, he seemed to the young English explorer 
to be a kind of link between himself and his great pre- 
decessors. 

By Merikani Cameron was introduced to a Portuguese 
trader named Jos£ Antonio Alvez, and known by the 
natives as Kendele, who offered to conduct him to Loanda 
or Benguela, at the same time strongly deprecating any 
attempt to go to Lake Sankorra. The last white man, he 
said, who went to Mata Yafa's country, which must 
be traversed, was detained there in captivity for four years, 
when his sufferings ended in a miserable death. Such 
would inevitably be the fate of any other European who 
should have the temerity to approach Mata's capital. 

On enquiring whether a more direct route to the lake 
existed, Cameron was told that some of Merikani's and 
Alvez's men had been within a few days of its shores, but 
the road they traversed was only " practicable in the dry 
season, as it led across vast treeless plains, intersected by 
many rivers, converted in the rainy season into swamps." 

After much careful deliberation, Cameron finally decided 
to abandon his long-cherished scheme of visiting Lake 
Sankorra, and to avail himself of Alvez's offered escort to 
Benguela. As the trader would not, however, move for 
a month, our hero determined at least to visit Lake 
Mohyra, and on the 30th October he started for the 
south with that end in view, escorted only by a small 
party of his own men, and by a native guide, who had had 
one arm amputated at the elbow, on account, as he took 



Floating Villages. 369 

care to inform his employer, of his having been wounded 
in the arm with a poisoned arrow, not as a punishment. 

A rapid march in a northerly direction, over a hilly and 
wooded country, brought the party within sight of Lake 
Mohyra, a small sheet of water with three villages built 
on piles rising from its surface, which was also dotted here 




FLOATING HUT ON LAKE MOHYRA 



and there with curious floating huts such as that represented 
in our illustration. 

Anxious to examine more closely these strange aquatic 
houses, Cameron lost no time in begging the chief of a land 
village to provide him with a canoe, but, as usual, he was 
2 e — fs.A.) 



370 



A Native Wedding. 



refused. The amphibious dwellers on the lake were jealous 
of the visits of strangers, and our hero was obliged to 
content himself with watching the lake people swimming 
from hut to hut, or paddling about in their simple dug- 
outs twenty or twenty-five feet long. 

On enquiry, Cameron learned that the natives of the 
Mohyra live entirely in their floating huts or in the 
water, only coming on shore to cultivate provisions and 
take their goats to pasture. 

Eeluctantly turning his back on this interesting sheet 
of water, the connection of which with the other lakes of 
Central Africa he was not able to determine, Cameron now 
returned to Kilemba, passing some lake villagers in the 
first stage of his journey, who scampered off to their 
canoes when he tried to enter into conversation with them. 

Back again at Kilemba, Cameron found to his regret 
that there was still no chance of an immediate move west- 
wards, and decided to avail himself of the protracted delay 
to visit yet another lake, known as Kassali or Kikonja, 
reported to exist some days' journey on the south-east. 

Having obtained guides from Jumah Merikani, Cameron 
started on this new trip on the 14th November, and, 
marching across a salt plain, arrived the next day at a 
village called Kibaiyeli, where, unfortunately for him, a 
native wedding was then going on, attended with more 
than the usual amount of shouting, yelling, dancing, and 
capering. The bride, a girl of only nine years old, was 
brought into the town " on the shoulders of one woman 
and supported by another." A circle was then formed, 
in the centre of which the poor child was jumped up and 
down by her two chaperones till it seemed as if every bone 
must be disjointed, the wedding guests dancing and yelling 



Fever and Disappointment. 371 



about her all the time. The bridegroom now advanced 
and presented his intended with some tobacco leaves and 
beads, which she scattered amongst the crowds. A general 
scramble ensued, after which the bride was set down and 
danced with the bridegroom. The woman who had carried 
her, adds Cameron, must have worked very hard, for the 
skin was actually rubbed off her back and shoulders. 

Leaving Kibaiyeli whilst the tumult was still going on, 
our hero pressed on to Kisima, two days' journey further 
south, where a " violent paroxysm of fever attacked him 
without warning," reducing him so much that he could 
scarcely resume his journey the next morning. He managed 
to creep along, however, and on the 22nd November he 
came in sight of Lake Kassali. Halting at the village of 
Kowedi, he was compelled to await the return of the chief, 
who was then absent, before he could go down to its banks. 
On the arrival of his host the next day, Cameron learned 
to his great disappointment that no permission to visit the 
lake could be granted, and though he remained for some 
time in the village hoping to obtain a reprieve, he was 
obliged at last to return to Kilemba with his curiosity 
ungratified. Some of his men, however, whom he had 
sent with messages to the chief on the northern shores of 
the lake, reported that there were many floating and 
inhabited islands on its surface, formed of large pieces of 
" tingi-tingi,"* cut from the masses with which the shores 
are lined, on which logs and brushwood are laid, and covered 
with earth. 

Immediately on his second return to Kilemba, Cameron 

* Tingi-tingi is the name given to the grass at the mouths of rivers and 
on the shores of lakes, which is too thick for boats to go through, but not 
strong enough to bear the weight of a man. 



372 



Westwards at last. 



called on Alvez, and learned that as soon as Kasongo the 
chief returned from a plundering expedition on which he 
was then engaged, the start for the west would really be 
made. Cheered by this prospect, our hero employed the 
next few days in questioning Merikani and his men about 
their travels, hearing amongst other wonders of a village 
on Lake Tanganyika where the people lived on friendly 
terms with the lions, which walked about without molest- 
ing any one ; of underground dwellings at Mkanu, by the 
banks of the Lufira, some of them built actually under the 
bed of a river ; of " a high rocky island " on Tanganyika, 
in which all the inhabitants are leprous, and most of them 
blind, &c, &c. 

Cameron's hopes of a speedy move were again dis- 
appointed, and New Year's Day, 1875, found him still 
waiting at Kilemba. Not until the afternoon of the 21st 
January did Kasongo actually arrive, and then the much- 
longed-for chief turned out to be a thorough rascal, anxious 
to fleece and delay his guest to the best of his ability. Five 
long weeks of procrastination and of hope deferred all but 
exhausted Cameron's patience, and when on the 25 th 
January he actually started for the west, it was in company 
not only of Alvez, but of another Portuguese trader named 
Coimbra, the son of a major of Bihe, whose brutal conduct 
to his slaves rendered the march one long agony to the 
Englishman. Alvez, he tells us, was bad enough, and 
turned out to be both mean and untrustworthy, but 
Coimbra excelled him and every other slave-dealer with 
whom our hero came in contact in reckless cruelty. 
Pursuing a south-westerly direction, the caravan wound 
slowly, very slowly, through the fertile districts of Ussambi, 
its course marked by bloodshed and ruin. Delay after 



The Zambesi and Congo. 



373 



delay occurred, whilst one or another of the leaders was 
absent on a slaving raid, and July was far advanced "before 
the watershed between the river running to the Lualaba 
below Nyangwe, and those falling into it above that," was 
reached, and the second province traversed, that of Ulunda, 
a long narrow strip of country between the 5th and 12th 
degrees of S. lat., was entered. 

Early in August the first sight was obtained of the 
Zambesi, or rather of the trees fringing its banks, and our 
hero found himself on comparatively familiar ground 
on the watershed between that celebrated river and the 
Kassaba, a chief affluent of the Congo. Streams were 
constantly crossed running to the one or the other. As the 
Portuguese possessions were approached, plains were tra- 
versed which are flooded to a depth of two or three feet 
during the rainy season, and Cameron observed that the 
systems of the Congo and Zambesi "lock into each other 
in such a manner, that by some improvement in the 
existing condition of the rivers, and by cutting a canal of 
about twenty miles through a level country, they might be 
connected, and internal navigation be established from the 
west to the east coast." 

On the 28th August, the village of Katende, near Lake 
Dilolo, visited by Livingstone, was reached, but the only 
recollection retained by the natives of the great traveller 
w T as his having ridden an ox, a fact which made a very 
great impression alike on the chief and his people. Beyond 
Katende's the march led across vast plains, and in the 
middle of September, Cameron, marching a little in 
advance of the caravan, met a large trading party from 
Bih£, the furthest inland Portuguese district, from whom 
our hero, now reduced to absolute penury by the extortions 



374 



Arrival on the West Coast. 



of his Portuguese companions and the native chiefs whose 
territories he had traversed, tried to obtain a little tea or 
some biscuits. He could get nothing, however, and, to save 
himself and his men from starvation, he had now to sell 
his shirts and his greatcoat, the latter torn up into small 
pieces. At a village belonging to a chief named Kam- 
jumba, who deserves to be immortalised in every account 
of Cameron's adventures, a free gift of a goat was presented 
to the exhausted hero, the first meat he had tasted, except 
a dove shot by his own hand, for three weeks. 

Another three days' march, and the settlement of Alvez, 
close to the village of Kapeka, on the borders of Bih£, was 
entered, and after a week's delay Cameron gladly took his 
leave of the slave-dealers, and with his own followers 
commenced the last stage of his great journey, halting now 
at one now at another comfortable Portuguese residence in 
the successive districts of Bailunda, Kibula, Kisok^ and 
Kisanji, until at last, towards the end of November, when 
he and his men were alike in a terrible state of exhaustion, 
he came in sight of the sea, and realised that he had indeed 
all but completed his work and marched from ocean to 
ocean. " Joy," he tells us, " gave him fresh strength," and, 
pressing eagerly forward, he came two days later to the 
town of Katombela on the sea-coast of the province, and 
near to the capital of Benguela. 

To quote his own most effective words, describing the 
conclusion of his march, Cameron "ran down the slope 
towards Katombela swinging his rifle round his head for 
very joy, and the men, carried away with the same sense ~ 
of relief, joined in the running. " Then, when the town was 
close at hand, the English colours, now sorely faded and 
weather-stained, were unfurled, and the young hero was 



Reception at St. Paul de Loanda. 375 

about to make his entry into Katombela with quiet 
dignity, when he was met by an enthusiastic Frenchman, 
M. Cauchoix by name, who, hearing of his approach, had 
hastened out to welcome him, bringing with him three men 
laden with provisions. " Instantly," says Cameron, "on 
meeting the travellers, the jolly-looking little Frenchman 
jumped out of the hammock in which he was travelling, and 
opened a bottle to drink to the health of the first European 
who had ever succeeded in crossing tropical Africa from 
east to west." 

Cameron was now conducted in triumph to M. Cauchoix's 
house in Katombela, but before he could enjoy the hospi- 
tality offered him he was taken seriously ill, and for a few 
hours his life seemed in danger. Thanks, however, to the 
kind and careful nursing of Dr. Calasso, from the Benguela 
hospital, and of M. Cauchiox himself, he recovered, and in 
the third week of November he was able to take ship for 
St. Paul de Loanda, where he arrived on the 21st of that 
month. 

Making his way at once to the English consulate, he was 
left standing at the door by a little mulatto servant in 
attendance, but soon " another entrance opened, and Mr. 
Hopkins, the consul himself, appeared." 

"He looked rather hard at me," says our hero, "as 
though wondering who the seedy-looking individual before 
him might be," but when Cameron observed quietly, " I 
have come to report myself from Zanzibar — overland," he 
started back, then, coming forward, placed both his hands 
on his visitor's shoulders, and exclaimed, " Cameron ! My 
God!" 

The eager hospitality extended to the successful traveller 
by the consul and all the European residents in St. Paul 



376 



Return to England. 



de Loando will be readily imagined, but his first thought 
was to find the means of returning to his native land, and 
after some little difficulty he succeeded in obtaining a 
schooner for the voyage, to which he gave the name of the 
Frances Cameron, after his mother. Captain Alexanderson 
of the Eoyal Geographical Society volunteered to act as her 
commander, and having paid off all his men, with the 
exception of four sailors from Zanzibar who still remained 
in his service, Cameron set sail for England on the 8th 
February, 1876, and on the 2nd April of the same year 
cast anchor in the Mersey after an absence of three years 
and four months, during which he had proved that the 
Lualaba did not belong to the Nile system, and opened up 
many an important question to be answered by future 
explorers. 



OH A PTE K XI. 



Stanley's journey from sea to sea. 



Stanley's Arrival in Zanzibar and Preliminary Trip up the Rufiji — The 
Start for the Interior— From Ugogo to Urimi— The Medical Stores 
broken open — Death of Edward Pocock — Launch of the Lady Alice on 
the Victoria N'yanza — Visit to King Mtesa of Uganda — Death of 
Barker— From Usukuma to Lake Albert — At the Lukuga Creek — 
Across Manyuema to Nyangwe — Desertion of Arab Escort — Down the 
Lualaba — Stopped by Rapids — Death of Frank Pocock— Across the 
Mountains to Boma. 

JTX.HE work so satisfactorily begun by Cameron was taken 



A up and completed by Stanley, to whom, in addition 
• to the great discovery with which his name will ever be 
inseparably connected, we owe much valuable information 
respecting Central Equatorial Africa. 

Sent out to Africa, after his successful relief of Living- 
stone, at the expense of the proprietors of the New York 
Herald and the Daily Telegraphy Stanley arrived at 
Zanzibar in September, 1874 In the month which inter- 
vened before he was able to start for the interior, he 
made a preliminary trip in a Yarmouth yawl named 
the Wave, which he had brought out with him, up 
the Eufiji or Lufyi, a river flowing into the Indian 
Ocean some few miles south of the Kingani. Having 
ascertained that the Eufiji was navigable for large vessels 
for fifty miles inland, with a waterway fit for the passage 




378 



Start for the Interior* 



of shallow steam launches extending some 240 miles 
farther, Stanley returned to Zanzibar to complete his 
preparations for his great journey westwards. 

Accompanied by the now famous brothers, Francis and 
Edward Pocock, sons of a fisherman of Upnor, near 
Rochester, and by one other white man named Fred 
Barker, Stanley landed at Bagamoyo early in November, 
and, after rather more than the ordinary preliminary diffi- 
culties, started for the interior on the 17th of that month 
with a native escort of 250 men, of whom 47 had pre- 
viously been either in his own service or that of Living- 
stone. We may add that his baggage included a pontoon 
called the Livingstone, and a small steam launch named 
the Lady Alice, both of which appear to have been 
marvels of river and lake architecture, and were carried in 
numerous sections. 

Crossing the Kingani river in the Lady Alice, Stanley 
rapidly made his way by the ordinary caravan route to 
Kikoka, whence his course was mainly west-north-west 
till he approached Mpwapwa, when it became due west. 
Beyond Mpwapwa the desert of Mgunda M'kali was 
crossed, and the last day of the year 1874 found the party 
on the western frontier of Ugogo, the trip from the coast 
having been made in an incredibly short time. 

A rest of two days in what Stanley calls inhospitable 
Ugogo was succeeded by a march due north, and the actual 
journey of discovery may be said to have begun. Deserted 
by his guides, and feeling his way step by step, our hero 
was soon reduced to terrible straits for want of food, but, 
pressing on under the belief that three days' march would 
bring him to Urimi on the southern extremity of the 



Famine in an Unknown Land. 379 



Victoria N'yanza, he arrived on the fifth day at a small 
village, his course marked, alas ! by the corpses of many of 
his followers, who sunk by the way to die of hunger and 
exhaustion. 

Disappointed in his hope of obtaining food for his 
famished people, Stanley now sent some of the party on to 
Urimi to purchase grain, and in the meanwhile broke open 
his medical stores, and made gruel of his reserve of oat- 
meal and Eevalenta Arabica for the remainder of his 
forces. Forty-eight hours later his scouts returned with 
supplies of provisions, and, better still, news of a fruitful 
country on the north. The march was almost immediately 
resumed, but the entry, two days later, into the promised 
land of Urimi at the base of the watershed, whence, to 
quote Stanley's own words, " the trickling streams begin 
to flow Nilewards," was saddened by the death, at the 
village of Chiwyu, of Edward Pocock. 

From Chiwyu Stanley pressed on through Urimi to 
Mangara, where an Arab servant named Kaif Halleck, 
who had lagged a little behind the main body, was 
murdered by the natives. 

This was the beginning of those serious troubles which 
at one time threatened to put a premature end to the 
explorer's career, but, after many a skirmish and much 
bloodshed, Stanley encamped with the remnant of his 
forces at the village of Kagehi in Usukuma, about one 
hundred yards south of the Victoria N'yanza, on the 27th 
February, 1875, having followed to it a river of many 
names which enters the lake as the Shimeeyu. 

A day or two later the Lady Alice was successfully 
launched on the Victoria N'yauza, and, in a cruise occupy- 
ing fifty-eight days, one thousand miles of its shores were 
surveyed, and its general outline determined. 



380 From the Victoria to the Albert N'yanza. 

A visit was also paid to our old acquaintance, King 
Mtesa of Uganda (see Heroes of Discovery in North 
Africa), at his capital of Ulagalla, where Stanley was very 
courteously received, and met Colonel Linant de Bellefonds 
of the Egyptian service, then engaged in negotiating 
a treaty of commerce between Mtesa and his own govern- 
ment. To the colonel Stanley entrusted an account of 
his cruise on the Victoria N'yanza, and returned to his 
camp at Kagehi, where he was met by the melancholy 
intelligence of the death of another of his few European 
servants, Fred Barker, who had succumbed to ague and 
fever three weeks previously. 

Having supplemented his despatches home by a letter 
to the mother of the unfortunate Barker, Stanley, so 
far as we can make out from the fragmentary materials 
at our command, returned to Mtesa's capital, which our 
readers will remember is situated on the north-western 
shores of the Victoria N'yanza, and completed his survey 
of that lake in the Lady Alice. 

Following the western shores of the N'yanza as far as the 
river Kagera, the Kitangule of Speke, Stanley there struck 
across direct for his old station in Usukuma, whence, 
escorted by 2000 spearmen, provided by Mtesa, he made 
his way in a west-north-westerly direction to the frontier 
of Ungoro, and on the evening of the 9th January arrived 
within three miles of the Albert N'yanza, and in the 
territory of our old friend Rumanika, whose kindness to 
Speke and Grant after their sufferings in Uzinga has 
earned him the gratitude of all interested in African 
exploration. 

Unable at this time to make any survey of the Albert 
N'yanza, Stanley now marched his forces from its northern 



Junction with Tippu-Tttis Forces. 381 

shores to the well-known station of Ujiji, on the coast of 
Lake Tanganyika; then crossing that famous sheet of 
water, so inseparably connected with the last days of 
Livingstone, he examined the Lukuga stream, discovered 
by Cameron, and followed what he calls the "Luanza" 
river to its junction with the Lualaba. Then, having 
crossed Manyuema, he reached Nyangwe, on the eastern 
bank of the great river of many names ; whence he started 
on November 5th, 1876, upon the last stage of the great 
journey from ocean to ocean, in which he not only solved 
the most important remaining hydrographical problem in 
Africa — the origin of the Congo river — but threw con- 
siderable light on several points connected with the 
mighty water-parting between it and the Nile. 

It was at Nyangwe that Stanley seems to have first 
made acquaintance with the now notorious Tippu-Tib, 
the great Arab slave-dealer already alluded to in our 
account of Cameron's journey, and who appears to us to 
have been of late years the evil genius of the white man 
in Western Africa. Joining forces with Tippu-Tib, whose 
followers numbered some seven hundred, the explorer 
crossed the river which he still calls the Lualaba (not yet 
knowing it to be the Congo) a little below Nyangw^, and 
though harassed at every step by the hostility of the 
natives, and quarrels between his own people and the 
Arabs, he cut his way in safety through the dense forests 
to a point on the river in S. lat. 3° 35', E. long. 25° 49', 
where it was possible to launch the " Lady Alice." 
Thinking it might be better to continue the journey on 
the other side of the stream, Stanley called a halt, and 
ordered his men to put together the sections of the boat. 
In his own account of what was in" reality the turning- 



382 



Canoes to be built. 



point in his perilous expedition, and assured of its ultimate 
success, Stanley says : " My tent was pitched about thirty 
feet from the river on a grassy spot ; Tippu-Tib and his 
Arabs were in the bushes ; while the 550 people of whom 
the expedition consisted began to prepare a site for their 
tents by enlarging the open space around the landing- 
place. While my breakfast was cooking, and my tent was 
being drawn taut and made trim, a mat was spread on a 
bit of short grass . . . . a few yards from the river. 
Some sedgy reeds obstructed my view, and as I wished, 
while resting, to watch the river gliding by, I had them 
cropped off short. Frank Pocock and the Wangwana 
chiefs were putting the boat sections together in the rear 
of the camp ; I was busy thinking, planning a score of 
things. . ... Gently as a summer's dream, the brown 
waves of the Livingstone* flowed by, broad and deep. 
.... Downwards," he adds, " it flows to the unknown. 
. . . . Something strange must surely lie in the vast 
space occupied by total blankness in our maps between 
Nyangw^ and Tuckey's farthest.! I seek a road to connect 
these two points. We have laboured through the terrible 
forest, and manfully struggled through the gloom. My 
people's hearts have become faint. I seek a road. Why, 
here lies a broad watery avenue cleaving the Unknown to 
some sea, like a path of light ! There are woods all around, 
sufficient for a thousand canoes. Why not build them ? " 

Stanley sprang up, and ordered the drummer to call the 
people together. His path was clear now ! Canoes should 

* Stanley had re-named the Lualaba the Livingstone on his arrival on 
the bank a few honrs before. 

t For account of Tuckey's expedition up the Congo, and his sad fate, 
see Heroes of Discovery in North Africa, p. 130. 



Desertion of Tippu-Tib. 



383 



be built; the whole expedition should be embarked in 
them ; the river itself should be their guide ! No more 
struggle with the forces of Nature ; no more fighting with 
natives; no more hesitation; no more doubt about what 
to do, — all was plain sailing now. But the people re- 
sponded wearily. They were sick to death of marches 
and counter marches, with no apparent result. What 
cared they for geographical problems ? The Arabs looked 
on gloomily as Stanley eagerly assured them, pointing to 
the river, that he had found a path to the sea. Only a 
few could be induced to remain with him if he insisted on 
taking to the water ; and it was not until some time after- 
wards that the determined explorer was able to carry out 
his resolve. Tippu-Tib and his Arabs soon deserted him, 
and only after several desperate encounters with the natives 
were the " Lady Alice " and the supplementary fleet of 
canoes containing the little remnant of Stanley's own 
followers launched upon the broad river. 

For a short time all went well; but presently, a few 
miles below the point where the stream of many names is 
crossed by the Equator, the cannibal districts were entered, 
and again and again armed natives rushed down to the 
banks forbidding the further progress of the fleet. More 
than one encounter took place between the explorers and 
the savages, but the former were always victorious, on one 
occasion capturing a monster canoe, which Stanley dubbed 
the " Great Eastern of the Livingstone/' Soon after 
passing the mouth of a wide tributary of the Congo, which 
the leader named the Leopold, after the King of the 
Belgians, the main stream suddenly grew narrower and 
made a sharp detour to the east-north-east. A little 
below the bend thus formed the roar of cataracts was 



384 



Encotmters ivith Natives. 



heard. To quote again from Stanley's own narrative : 
" Louder than the noise of the falls rose the piercing 
yells of the savage Mwana Ntaba from both sides of the 
great river ; " and the little force were confronted by the 
" necessity of putting into practice the resolution formed 
before setting out on the wild voyage — to conquer or to 

die What should we do ? " continues Stanley ; 

u shall we turn and face the fierce cannibals, who, with 
hideous noise, drown the solemn roar of the cataract; or 
shall we cry, ' Our fate is in the hands of God/ and 
risk the cataract with its terrors ? " Thus face to face 
with the inevitable, Stanley chose a middle course. Order- 
ing the anchors to be dropped, and a charge to be made on 
the natives on the right bank, after a fierce struggle a 
landing was effected, the savages were driven off, and the 
exhausted explorers encamped for the night. 

The next day, in spite of every sign of a fresh attack 
from the cannibals, Stanley managed to make a hurried 
exploration of the river, with the result that he found it 
necessary to cut a way through the forest for some miles 
before again venturing on the water. Dragging the canoes 
with them, and every now and then turning to face the 
natives harassing them in the rear, the gallant little band 
reached a point where it seemed possible to take to the 
stream once more, although at considerable risk to the 
frail canoes, so formidable were the cataracts and so rapid 
the stream above them. 

" As soon as we reached the river/' says Stanley, " we 
began to float the canoes down a stretch of rapids to 
a camp opposite," an island called Ntundma. Six canoes 
were taken down safely ; the seventh was capsized, and its 
inmates were only rescued from drowning by the gallant 



Perils of the Rapids. 



385 



efforts of the crew of the eighth — one man, a chief called 
Zaidi, clambering on to the island mentioned above, where 
he remained in a perilous position till Uledi, one of 
Stanley's most faithful adherents, and a young boy volun- 
teered to fetch him off in a canoe. They succeeded in 
reaching him, and by desperate efforts fastened their canoe 
to the rocks; but, as Stanley graphically relates, their 
work was only just begun. " There were," he says, " fifty 
yards of wild waves and a resistless rush of water between 
them and safety, and on the right of them was a fall 300 
yards in width, and below them a mile of falls and rapids." 

It was not until the next morning that the three weie 
rescued from their perilous position. It was found impos- 
sible to launch the boat again, and Stanley finally hit upon 
the expedient of making a kind of bridge with canes and 
creepers, which was drawn across the foaming water by 
Uledi and his friends, to whom a stone tied to the end of a 
hundred yards of whip-cord had first been thrown. Light 
cables to be lashed round the waist of each man were also 
sent over, and thus protected, they all three managed to 
make the transit in safety. 

To avoid any more adventures of this kind, a road had 
to be cut for some little distance further through the forest ; 
but free at last from the deafening noise of the cataracts, 
to which Stanley gave his own name, the canoes were once 
more launched on a broad waterway, and but for the con- 
tinued resistance of the natives the rest of the journey would 
have been much more quickly accomplished. As it was, 
however, one sanguinary fight succeeded another, and again 
and again the newly-discovered stream was red with 
blood. After following its course for many miles, a fresh 
series of rapids was reached, in attempting to shoot which, 

2 J— (S.A.) 



386 



Arrival at Soma. 



in his canoe, Frank Pocook was drowned. His body 
was swept away and never recovered. This terrible 
disaster lost Stanley one of his most faithful helpers, and 
gave him a horror of the river, which he again deserted for 
the land. The rest of the journey was one long struggle 
with difficulties of every kind. Dense forests alternated 
with lofty mountains, through and over which the canoes 
had to be dragged, the natives still contesting every inch 
of the way, so that the course of the expedition was 
marked by the dying and the dead. 

But at last, after a tramp of several hundred miles, and 
when the hearts of the bravest were beginning to fail, the 
survivors of the gallant little force reached Boina, a settle- 
ment on the Congo which had been occupied by Europeans 
for more than a century. The welcome they received 
can be imagined, and the news of their arrival on the west 
coast caused the greatest excitement throughout Europe. 
Their work was done at last ; the mystery which had so 
long eluded solution was made clear; the mighty river of 
many aliases was proved beyond a doubt to be the Congo, 
and had been traced from its source in the far east to its 
final home in the Atlantic. The Dark Continent had been 
traversed from ocean to ocean; and although much still 
remained to be done, the main features of the geography of 
Central Africa had at last been fiually determined. 



OHAPTEE XII. 



WORK DONE SINCE 1876. 



The International African Association — Meeting of the Berlin Conference 
— Foundation of Congo State — Expeditions of Grenfell, Wolf, and 
others — Discovery of Kasai-Sankuru System — Life-Story of Congo — ■ 
Serpa Pinto — Discoveries in Zambesia — African Lakes Company — 
Work of Thomson, Holub, and others — Emin Pasha— Journey of 
Stanley to his relief — Sufferings of Rear Column — Journey to Zanzibar 
— Summary of Work done— List of Tracts still unexplored. 

JHH.HE success of Stanley's great journey concentrated the 



* attention of all Europe on Africa, and resulted in the 
formation in 1876 of the International African Association. 
Of this association the head was King Leopold of Belgium, 
who inaugurated its foundation at the Brussels Conference, 
held whilst Stanley was still in the heart of Africa on the 
second of his great journeys. Under the auspices of this 
Association expeditions of almost every nationality were 
organised, with a view to establishing permanent stations 
for the relief of travellers and the advance of geographical 
science along the chief Central African routes. Scarcely 




388 



The Congo Basin explored. 



less important, though belonging strictly to politics rather 
than to the story of exploration, was the meeting of the 
Berlin Conference in 1884-5, when the so-called " spheres 
of influence " of the various nationalities of Europe in 
Africa were delimitated. The foundation of the Congo 
Independent State, and the expeditions of the French from 
the Gaboon under De Brazza, brought a vast tract of 
Western Central Africa to a great extent under the 
influences of civilisation. The basin of the Congo was now 
thoroughly explored. The expeditions of the Germans 
Grenfell, Wolf, Kund, Von Francois, Wissmann, and 
Lappenbeck supplemented the work of Stanley, dispelled 
the error that the two chief tributaries of the Congo flowed 
side by side in a north-westerly direction, discovered 
the Kasai-Saukuru system draining the eastern districts on 
the south of the main stream, and proved that the Kwango, 
Kasai, Sankuru, and Lake Leopold all belong to one great 
water system. The Kasai, or most important southern 
tributary of the Congo, was first ascended by Bateman in 
1889 ; and the Mobangi, the chief affluent from the north, 
first traced in 1884-85 by the Eev. Mr. Grenfell, was 
thoroughly explored a few years later by the Belgian 
officer Lieutenant Vangele, who penetrated as far as E. 
long. 21° 53', and proved the Welle river, discovered by 
Schweinfurth (see Heroes of Discovery in North Africa), 
to be identical with the Mobangi. The mighty Congo 
system had now at last yielded up the secret of all but 
a few minor details of its course, and it will be well, 
before proceeding further, to repeat clearly the now well- 
established facts of its life-story. Born in the Lokinga 



Discoveries in French-Congo. 389 

Highlands on the south of Lake Tanganyika, in about 
S. lat. 9° 40' and E. long. 35° 15', its earliest name is the 
Chambeze, under which, fed by many a tributary, it flows 
into Lake Bangweolo, from which it issues as the Lualaba, 
continuing its course under that and other names in a 
north-easterly direction through Lake Moero to the 
Equator, above which it makes a decided bend eastwards, 
turning due south-east in E. long. 20°, whence it rushes 
to its outlet in the Atlantic in S. lat. 7° as the Congo, 
after draining some 1,300,000 square miles, and receiving, 
in addition to the main tributaries already mentioned, the 
Kwango, Juapa, Bosira, Ikelemba, Lulongo, and Lumani 
from the south, and the Aruwimi, Mbura, Loika, ISTgala, 
Lokinga, &c, on the north. 

In French-Congo many important discoveries have 
been made by scientific men in the last two decades. 
In 1877, De Brazza had proved the Ogow£ to be an 
independent stream; and the Portuguese, who had so 
long been inactive, roused by a spirit of emulation to 
fresh efforts, did much to throw light on the character 
of the districts watered by the Congo. Serpa Pinto 
crossed South Africa from sea to sea by a route passing 
through Benguela and the basin of the Upper Zambesi ; 
whilst Ivens and Capello explored many miles of hitherto 
unknown country between that river and the head waters 
of the Congo. 

Meanwhile, fired by a noble enthusiasm to bring to the 
natives of the newly-opened districts the knowledge of the 
gospel, a number of missionaries known as the African 
Lakes Company were sent out under the auspices of the 



390 



Thomsons Explorations. 



Established and Free Churches of Scotland, and stations 
were founded on the Shire and Zambesi rivers, as well as 
on the shores of the great lakes. By degrees the geography 
of these districts became well known, one officer after 
another sending home trustworthy reports of the portions 
explored by them. 

Amongst the more important of those whom we may 
perhaps characterise as the supplementary heroes of the 
new epoch of discovery in Eastern Africa were the ill-fated 
Keith Johnston and Joseph Thomson, who took up the 
work of Johnston when the early death of that explorer 
removed him from his command. In 1880 Thomson 
traversed the old route between Lakes Nyassa and 
Tanganyika, exploring the country on either hand, follow- 
ing the shores of Tanganyika as far as its outlet at the 
mouth of the Lukuga, making his way thence through 
Urua to within one day's march of the Congo. Com- 
pelled reluctantly to turn back there, he struggled in 
face of many difficulties to the southern extremity of 
Tanganyika, and returned to the east coast by way of 
Umyambebe, the main result of his journey having 
been the discovery of Lake Hikwa, which he re-named 
Lake Leopold. 

In 1884 Thomson made a yet more successful journey, 
working his way from Mombasa across the hitherto 
unexplored Masai-Land to the Victoria N'yanza, in the 
course of which he explored the northern sides of Mount 
Kilimanjaro, the table-lands of Kikuyu and Kapt4 as 
well as the country about Mount Kenia and the 
Aberdare range of hills. In 1887 and 1888 Count 



Emin Pasha. 



391 



Teleki and Lieutenant von Hohnel crossed Masni and 
Kikuyu Lands, and discovered Lakes Eudolf and Stefanie, 
on the north of the Equator. 

Corresponding progress has recently been made in the 
districts watered by the Zambesi and its tributaries ; 
the Leeba of Livingstone having been proved by the 
missionary Arnot to be identical with the main stream 
of the Zambesi ; whilst O'lSTeill has rectified the position 
of Lake Nyassa; Eankin has discovered in the Shinde 
river yet another navigable channel from the eastern 
coast of Equatorial Africa; and Dr. Holub, in his 
seven years' wanderings between the Cape and Zambesi, 
has dispelled many errors respecting the tracts he 
traversed. 

Although, as is shown in our Heroes of Discovery in 
North Africa, the troubles with the Mahdists checked the 
general progress of exploration in Africa, they accidentally 
led to a considerable increase in our knowledge of the 
Western and Central Equatorial districts. After the 
death of the heroic Gordon and the fall of Khartoum, 
it was resolved to send an expedition to the rescue of Emiu 
Pasha. Dr. Emin, more usually called Emin Pasha, 
first appears in the history of African exploration, under 
the name of Edward Schnitzer, as doctor to General 
Gordon, and was by him appointed Governor of Equatoria 
in 1878. In conjunction with an Englishman named 
Lupton, who was at the same time made Governor of the 
Bahr-el-Ghazal, a district on the west of Equatoria, he 
made many interesting discoveries connected with the 
geography of his province, which are more fully referred to 



392 Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. 

in our companion volume on Heroes of Discovery in North 
Africa, and appears to have been more eager over his 
studies than in making preparation for the threatened attack 
of the Mahdists. Beloved by his people, he relied on their 
faithfulness, and even when compelled to give up all his 
outlying posts to the Arabs, he does not appear to have 
been much disturbed. In the midst of wars and rumours 
of war, and whilst all Europe hung in suspense over the 
contradictory rumours of his fate which appeared from 
time to time in the newspapers, and gigantic efforts were 
being made to collect funds for his rescue, he continued 
patiently to verify his observations and add to his collec- 
tions. The loss of his neighbour, Lupton Bey, who, when 
his province was taken by the rebels, was carried off to 
Kordofan, alarmed him but little, though he wrote to the 
missionary Mackay in Uganda to say that he was " greatly 
in need of help." 

As a matter of course, Stanley, who had already done so 
much in Africa, was chosen as the leader of the expedition 
for the relief of Emin Pasha * ? and although his work was 
on this journey political rather than geographical, he made 
several important discoveries on his way, which must be 
briefly capitulated here. The revolt in Zanzibar, and the 
generally disturbed state of Eastern Africa, led Stanley to 
decide to start from his old field of action, the Congo 
State. Accompanied by a picked body of English 
officers, our old acquaintance Tippu-Tib and his Arabs, 
with a motley collection of native carriers, &c, he retraced 
his steps up the Congo, and, leaving behind him at a place 
called Yambuya some of his officers and men, to be sent 



Stanley s Journey, 



393 



forward later with the help of carriers to be supplied by 
Tippu-Tib, he followed the course of the Aruwimi, which 
joins the main stream from the north in N*. lat. 1° 10', 
and E. long. 23° 30'. Cutting his way through the dense 
forests through which this river flows under the name of the 
Ituri, Stanley reached the shores of the Albert N'yanza, 
where he surveyed the course of the Kikibbi river, the 
outlet of which, in the lake, Emin had already discovered. 
The Kikibbi, or, as it is sometimes called, the Semiliki, 
fed by countless streams from the Euwenzori mountain, 
flows from the Muta Nzige or Albert Edward N'yanza, 
which is partly below the Equator, to the Albert N'yanza 
above it, thus connecting the two sheets of water, the more 
southerly of which was proved to be one of the long-sought 
sources of the Nile. This last expedition, therefore, 
bridged over the gap between the work of the Heroes 
of North and those of South African Discovery. The 
snow-capped Euwenzori, which seems likely to prove of as 
much importance in the physical configuration of Africa as 
are Mounts Kilimanjaro and Kenia, still remains to be 
explored, though Captain Stairs, one of Stanley's officers 
ascended it to a height of 10,677 feet. 

After several interviews with Emin Pasha, who was 
extremely unwilling to leave his beloved Equatoria, Stanley 
went back to Yambuya camp, to be met with the terrible 
intelligence of all that had happened there in his absence. 
The murder of one officer by the natives, the death from 
fever of another, the wretched condition of the survivors, 
are all too well known to need recapitulation here, and, 
were it not so, the tragic story has nothing whatever to do 



394 



Death of Emih Pasha. 



with Atrican exploration. Taking with him the little 
remnant of the gallant band who had suffered so terribly 
in his service, Stanley returned to the Albert N'yanza; 
and this time he completed his journey to Zanzibar, 
accompanied by the reluctant Governor of Equatoria, who, 
however, soon returned to Central Africa, to meet a 
violent death near the Congo at the hands of the brother 
of Tippu-Tib. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE AGE OF GOLD. 

End of the Pioneer Stage — The Discovery of the Diamond-Fields — Cecil 
Rhodes — The Annexation of the Transvaal — The Zulu War — The 
Boer Revolt— The Age of Gold— The Growth of South African Trade 
— The Rise of Johannesberg — Lobeugula — The Chartered Company — 
The Matabele War — c< Jameson's Raid" — The Matabele again in Arms 
— The Progress of Rhodesia — The Development of Civilisation. 

FROM the year 1870 down to the present day little is 
to be said of exploration, in the true sense of that 
term, in South Africa. We have traced in the preceding 
chapter the journeyings of Stanley from sea to sea, and 
we have shown that, although Stanley left many minor 
geographical and scientific problems unsolved, he had 
brought to an end what we may call the purely pioneer 
stage of South African exploration. The formation of 
the International African Association in 1876 opened 
out the political stage ; while the discovery of the 
Kimberley diamond-fields in 1869 marked the beginning 
of an era of industrial and commercial development in 
South Africa — an era so marvellous as to be almost 
without parallel in the whole varied history of human 



396 



Cecil Rhodes. 



effort. From the day when, in the year 1867, an 
obscure trader named O'Reilly was shown the first 
South African diamond, which had been picked up on 
a farm in the Hopetown district of Cape Colony, down 
to our own day, when the year's output of the diamond - 
mines reaches a total value of about three and a half 
millions sterling, the history of South African explora- 
tion has undergone little change. The day of the 
explorer of the type of Livingstone and Moffat 
has passed away. The men who devoted their lives, 
with reckless and splendid enthusiasm, to the cause 
of civilisation and scientific research have been super- 
seded by a new generation, of which Mr. Cecil John 
Rhodes is at once the type and the epitome. 

The story of the rise and development of the Kim- 
berley diamond-fields is, in a sense, the history of Mr. 
Cecil Rhodes. To trace the progress of the mineral 
industry previous to 1869 is an easy matter. Some 
faint idea of the mineral wealth of the lands lying 
south of the Equator had descended to us from the 
most remote times. It was not until 1852, however, 
that an organised attempt was made to turn that know- 
ledge to account. In that year a beginning was made 
with copper-mining in Namaqualand, and since that 
time the part of Cape Colony which had been previously 
regarded as the least valuable has been steadily con- 
tributing its mineral wealth to the general prosperity of 
the country. 

Not until the discovery of the Kimberley mines, 
however, did men's minds begin to grasp the dazzling 
possibilities of South Africa. Two years after O'Reilly 
had become possessed of the first South African diamond 
a Boer farmer named Van Niekirk obtained an even 



The Diamond- Fie Ids. 



397 



finer stone from a Griqua native. This gem, afterwards 
known as "The Star of South Africa," is now in the 
possession of the Countess of Dudley, and is valued at 
£25,000. The news of these discoveries spread itself 
rapidly, and by the close of 1870 there were at least 
10,000 men at work on the Vaal River searching for 
diamonds. The district where the discovery was made 
is situated in what was then a desert region lying to the 
north of the boundary of Cape Colony. The discovery 
had important political consequences. In 1871, British 
authority was established over the erstwhile desert 
territory, and a new dependency, called Griqualand 
West, came into existence. This was the beginning 
of the abandonment of that policy of non-intervention 
in South African affairs which had been so strenuously 
condemned by Sir George Grey, and which, undoubtedly, 
was the indirect cause of the British humiliations at 
Isandhlwana and at Majuba Hill. The Imperial Govern- 
ment obtained the diamond-fields by cession from a 
Griqua chief; but the territory was claimed by the 
Government of the ~ Orange Free State, which had 
obtained its independence in 1852, as being within the 
boundary of its dominion as defined by Sir Harry Smith. 
The dispute was arranged by the payment of a sum of 
£90,000 by the Imperial Government, which, at the same 
time, voted £15,000 for railway construction. 

From that time the Kimberley diamond-fields became 
the rallying point for European emigrants to South 
Africa. The town of Kimberley sprang into existence, 
&nd, in process of time, the various conflicting claims 
and interests were brought under the control of what 
is now known as the De Beers Consolidated Mines. The 
two companies which were formed — the one to exploit 



398 Sir Bartle F7'ere appointed Commissioner. 

the original mines at Kimberley, and the other to work 
the equally wealthy De Beers mines — speedily out- 
distanced their smaller neighbours, and it became 
evident that the small proprietors would have to go. 
At the beginning:, the mines were divided into claims 
with a surface area of 31 square feet; but so great 
was the sub-division that before Mr. Rhodes succeeded 
in effecting; his great amalgamation a single claim was 
frequently owned by nearly two thousand proprietors. 
It was in this work of amalgamation that Mr. Rhodes, 
who had gone to Kimberley a delicate youth in search 
of health, first gave evidence of those remarkable powers 
which have made him the dominating figure in the 
recent history of South African development. The 
work of amalgamating all the diverse interests in the 
diamond- mines was a task which might have appalled 
the boldest mind. Mr. Rhodes achieved what appeared 
to be impossible, however, and from the conclusion of 
the amalgamation of the De Beers and Kimberley com- 
panies in 1887 the diamond-producing industry has 
continued to be one of the most prolific sources of 
South African prosperity. 

Meanwhile, events of great historic importance had 
occurred. In 1876 Lord Carnarvon, who was then 
Secretary of State for the Colonies, determined to 
make another effort to federate the various States 
then existing in South Africa, namely, the Transvaal 
Republic, the Orange Free State, Natal, and Cape 
Colony. Sir Bartle Frere was appointed Governor of 
Cape Colony and High Commissioner for South Africa in 
the following year, and set out to assume his new duties 
with the avowed object of pressing forward to realisation 
a project which is still merely a dream. But there were 



Annexation of the Transvaal. 399 



forces at work which the new Governor was altogether 
unable to control. Scarcely had Sir Bartle Frere reached 
Cape Town when Sir Theophilus Shepstone, acting under 
previous instructions from the British Government, raised 
the British flag in Pretoria on April 12th, 1877, and 
formally proclaimed the annexation of the Transvaal 
to the British Crown. This act was destined to have 
momentous consequences. The independence of the 
Boers dwelling between the Orange and the Vaal Rivers 
had, after many vicissitudes, and against the advice of 
Sir George Grey, been formally recognised by the terms 
of the convention of Bloemfontein on February 23rd, 
1854. But the Boers, who divided themselves into two 
Republics, were unable to keep in check the growing 
power of the fierce Bantus. The weakness of the Boers 
was a source of danger to the whole European population 
of South Africa, in fact, for it was recognised by the British 
authorities that if the military tribe of Zulus, the most 
warlike section of the Bantu nation, was allowed to 
overrun Natal, which had been placed under British 
protection in 1843, the whole of the native population 
might be expected to rise, and a war of extermination 
would be the inevitable consequence. Sir Theophilus 
Shepstone perceived the danger, and his bold act of 
annexation was intended to secure the safety of Boers 
and British alike. 

Events proved that the danger had not been exagger- 
ated. A general movement of revolt speedily manifested 
itself among the natives. Ketch way o, the blood-thirsty 
chief of the Zulus, was the recognised leader of the move- 
ment; but it was left to the minor sections of the Kaffir 
race to begin the bloody work. The war broke out in 
August 1877, and although by the end of May fullowiug 



400 



The Zulu War. 



the revolted tribesmen were subdued, the difficulties 
which the Colonial troops had to overcome were so 
great that Ketchwayo was encouraged to believe that 
if he himself took the field the Europeans could be 
driven out of South Africa. Ketchwayo's insolence, 
coupled with fears for the safety of the white in- 
habitants of Natal, impelled Sir Bartle Frere to order 
Lord Chelmsford, who was in command of the British 
forces, to open the campaign. It is not within our 
present province to describe the events of the Zulu 
War in detail. Lord Chelmsford crossed the Tugela 
in January 1879. A few days later came the terrible 
defeat of Isandhlwana, when Ketchwayo annihilated 
the 24th Regiment— a humiliation, however, which was 
to some extent counterbalanced by the memorable stand 
at Rorke's Drift, when about a hundred soldiers, under 
Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, heroically kept the 
whole Zulu advance guard at bay and saved Natal. 
The Zulus were finally defeated at Ulundi on July 
4th, and by the end of August the whole country had 
been practically reduced. Ketchwayo was captured 
and kept for a while a prisoner at Cape Town. He 
also visited England. In 1883 he was allowed to return 
to his people. Civil war resulted, however, and the 
strife was continued, after the death of Ketchwayo, by 
his two sons, Dinizulu and Sibepu. Finally, in 1887, 
Zululand was annexed to the British Empire. Dinizulu 
revolted again a year later, and was arrested and sent to 
reside on the island of St. Helena. In 1897, however, 
through the efforts of Miss Colenso and the Aborigines 
Protection Society, the fallen chief was allowed to return 
to his country. Since then Zululand has been at peace. 
During the same year the adjoining country of Tonga- 



The Boer Revolt. 



401 



land was also added to Natal. Missionary work goes 
on uninterruptedly in the two new dependencies, and 
Natal, which is now a self-governing colony, promises 
to become one of the most valuable portions of our 
Empire in South Africa. 

The next stage in South African development which 
falls to be recorded is also, unfortunately, marred by 
strife and bloodshed. In June 1880 the Cape Parlia- 
ment rejected the federation proposals submitted by the 
Premier, Sir Gordon Sprigg, and the immediate result 
was that the Transvaal Boers began to clamour for the 
restoration of their lost independence. A few months pre- 
viously, Mr. Kruger, who since that time has played so con- 
spicuous a part in South African affairs, came to London, 
accompanied by two other delegates, for the purpose of 
laying before the Imperial Government a petition, signed 
by practically the whole Dutch population, asking that 
the independence of the Boers might be again recognised. 
That petition was refused. After the close of the Zulu 
war, and the recall of Sir Bartle Frere, the affairs of the 
Transvaal had been administered by Sir Garnet Wolseley, 
now Lord Wolseley, the present Commander-in-Chief of 
the British Army. A new High Commissioner was 
appointed towards the end of 1880 in the person of 
Lord Rosmead (then Sir Hercules Robinson); but before 
he landed at the Cape, the Boers had decided to abandon 
diplomacy and appeal to force. 

The flag of the Transvaal was raised on the upland 
of Wi.twatersrandt on December 16th, 1880, and the 
lamentable Boer war, the effects of which have not 
yet been effaced, was thus begun. The war, though short, 
was disastrous to British influence. On February 26th 
was fought the battle of Majuba Hill, in which the 

2G — (S.A.) 



402 Independence of the Transvaal. 



British suffered a most discreditable defeat, and which 
resulted in the death of Sir George Colley, the British 
Commander. The situation was grave, and fall of 
terrible possibilities. The Transvaal Boers, flushed with 
victory, were prepared to fight to the last, while their 
kinsmen of the Orange Free State were in arms, and 
were only held in restraint by the tremendous personal 
influence of President Brand. After the death of Sir 
George Colley, Sir Evelyn Wood was placed in command 
of the British forces, but though, when the reinforce- 
ments which had been hastily despatched to the Cape 
had arrived, he declared that "he held the Boers in the 
hollow of his hand," the Government at home deemed it 
wiser to recognise the independence of the Transvaal, 
and thus avert a great racial conflict the end of which 
no one could foresee. Hostilities were suspended on 
March 22nd, 1881, and the British sovereignty in 
the Transvaal was abandoned under the terms of the 
Convention of Pretoria, which was signed on the 
following 3rd of August. The Transvaal Republic 
was allowed absolute control over its own domestic 
affairs, and the Imperial Government, while retaining 
the right of veto upon foreign treaties, has since that 
date been represented at Pretoria only by a British 
Resident. 

We come now to the most powerful of the numerous 
causes which have combined to make South Africa in 
many respects the most interesting portion of the 
British Empire. We have said that the discovery of 
the rich deposits of diamond-bearing "blue ground" at 
Kimberley opened a fresh era in South Africa. That 
event was but the beginning of the new epoch, however. 
The discovery of gold, which, in a sense, may be said to 



PRESIDENT KRUGER. 



Bechuanaland. 



403 



be still proceeding, confirmed the sanguine predictions of 
the men who had created Kimberley, and proved beyond 
doubt that South Africa is destined to be the brightest 
jewel in the Imperial Crown. It will be necessary, 
before going on to describe the events which led up to 
the beginning of the age of gold, to give some attention 
to another occurrence which indirectly played an im- 
portant part in finally establishing Britain as the 
paramount power in that portion of the continent. 

By what is known as the London Convention, made 
in 1884, the boundaries of the South African Republic 
on the western side were accurately laid down, and 
the Imperial Government virtually pledged itself to 
the control of the whole vast native population 
which remained outside the limits of the various 
European Governments holding territory south of the 
Equator. In return for the concessions given in the 
London Convention, the Transvaal delegates undertook 
to co-operate with the Imperial Government in the 
establishment of British authority over Bechuanaland, 
a district lying to the north of Cape Colony and to the 
west of the South African Republic. In May 1884, Mr. 
John Mackenzie arrived in Bechuanaland as Deputy- 
Commissioner; but the Transvaal Government repudiated 
its pledges, and went "so far as to issue, on September 
10th following, a proclamation declaring the whole 
district to be under the jurisdiction of the Republic. 
This proclamation affected matters of the most vital 
importance to Great Britain. The country thus so 
daringly claimed by President Kruger constitutes the 
main trade route to Central Africa. It was the door 
which had been opened at the cost of his life by 
Livingstone thirty years before, and it is through 



404 



Rhodesia. 



this door that British colonists, guided by Mr. Cecil 
Rhodes, have found a way to the fertile plains and 
uplands of Mashonaland and Matabeleland. 

Obviously, it was impossible that President Kruger's 
claim could be admitted. The Imperial Government 
acted promptly. An expedition under the command 
of Sir Charles Warren was at once despatched, and the 
beginning of the year 1885 saw a British Protectorate 
firmly established over Bechuanaland. In 1895 a still 
further change was made. It was deemed advisable 
to end the existence of the province as a separate 
Protectorate, and at the end of that year British 
Bechuanaland was formally annexed to Cape Colony. 
For the sake of greater clearness, it may be well to state 
here the exact political position of British South Africa 
to-day. Cape Colony now includes, as we have said, the 
whole of the southern portion of Bechuanaland and the 
whole of the native territories, with the exception of 
Basutoland, which once separated its eastern borders 
from Natal. Basutoland, a mountainous district which 
lies between the Orange Free State and the British 
Colonies, still remains under the direct control of the 
British Crown, as does also " Khama's Country," which 
lies to the north of Cape Colony, and is bounded on the 
west by the German possessions. And, finally, there is 
the vast region which stretches from the colonial border 
away northward, between German territory on the west 
and Portuguese territory on the east, right up to the 
shores of Lake Tanganyika. 

This region is now known by the name of Rhodesia, 
and its history, in a measure, is the history of South 
African gold. By the discovery of the precious metal 
the British flag has been carried to the southern extremity 



The Rise of Johannesberg. 



405 



of Lake Tanganyika; over two thousand miles of rail- 
way have been laid down; a vast British population 
has been planted in the very heart of the South 
African Republic, at Johannesberg; and the trade 
of South Africa has been raised from less than 
£16,000,000 in 1886 to £40,000,000 ten years later. 
It was early in 1886 that the presence of gold 
deposits of unusual richness in the sloping veldt that 
forms the watershed of the Vaal and Limpopo Rivers 
was established beyond doubt. Previous to this date, 
many isolated discoveries had been reported from time 
to time in different parts of the district of Lydenberg; 
but it was not until September 1886 that, thanks to the 
energy of Messrs. H. and F. Struben, the Witwatersrandt 
was declared a public gold-field. 

Already a considerable mining population had gathered 
together farther east, and the news of the dazzling dis- 
coveries brought the miners in droves to the new El 
Dorado. A tremendous tide of emigration set in, and 
in an incredibly short time the town of Johannesberg 
had sprung, mushroom-like, into a vigorous existence on 
the slope of the gold-reef, some 6000 feet above the level 
of the sea The output of gold from the Randt, as this 
now famous district has come to be called, was valued at 
£125,000 in 1887, and at just under £8,000,000 in 1896. 
Coal — only less valuable than gold itself — was discovered 
close at hand ; railways were extended by the enterprise 
of Cape Colony, and, by an arrangement with the Free 
State, the new city was placed in direct railway com- 
munication with Cape Town and Port Elizabeth by 
the end of 1892. Other railways followed rapidly. 
Johannesberg was soon connected by rail with Durban, 
and another line of railway connecting the "gold-reef 



406 



Mas hona land. 



city " with Delagoa Bay by way of Pretoria was opened 
in 1894. 

The result of all this activity was that in five years 
Johannesberg had become the most important town in 
the Transvaal, and was provided with all the equipment 
for maintaining a permanent and ever-growing popula- 
tion. But the gold era had only just begun. When a 
year's experience had placed the value of the Randt 
gold-fields beyond the possibility of a doubt, mens minds 
began to turn to the older gold-fields situated in the 
regions north of the Limpopo — the gold-fields which 
had been explored by men like Baines and Hartley 
and Karl Mauch. Here, in this district, it is believed, 
was the source of the fabulously wealthy mines which 
enriched King Solomon, and which, later in the world's 
history, poured their treasures into the lap of Imperial 
Rome. 

The whole of this region at the time of the gold 
discoveries on the Randt was subject to Lobengula, 
the warrior-king of the fierce Matabele. This monarch, 
in succession to his father, had carried on a war of 
extermination against the peaceful Mashonas, an agricul- 
tural branch of the great Bantu tribe. The country, 
variously known as Mashonaland and Matabeleland, 
was at this period very thinly populated. A treaty 
was arranged between Lobengula and the Imperial 
Government in 188S, whereby the Matabele monarch 
agreed not to enter into negotiations with any 
foreign power without the consent of the High 
Commissioner. In October of that year a trio of 
adventurous Englishmen, Messrs. Rucld, Maguire, and 
Thompson, visited the Court of Lobengula, and suc- 
ceeded in inducing the monarch to affix his mark to 



The Chartered Company. 407 



a document conferring upon them the sole right to 
search for and work the minerals within his dominions. 
This "Rudd concession'' was the germ of what is now 
known as the Chartered Company. A few months later 
the various concessions which had been granted to ex- 
plorers who had followed in the wake of Mr. Rudd were 
consolidated and taken over by a company which, with 
Mr. Rhodes at its head, and backed by a capital of one 
million sterling, was formed for the purpose of exploiting 
the mineral wealth of King Lobengula's country. 

The Company soon obtained the recognition of the. 
Imperial Government. On October 29th, 1889, a Royal 
Charter was conferred upon the pioneers, who were 
thereby entitled to the support and protection of Great 
Britain. Mr. Rhodes began his great task by arranging 
with the Cape Government for the commencement of the 
northern extension of the railway which was to run from 
Kimberley to Vryburg. The first expedition organised 
by the Chartered Company left the Macloutsie River on 
June 28th, 1890, and reached Fort Salisbury on Septem- 
ber 12th. The journey was a remarkable one. The 
poineers had to carve a road over four hundred miles 
in length through swamps, forests, and rivers. They 
established lines of communication at Tuli, Victoria, 
and Charter, and, making the spot where now stands 
the town of Salisbury their rallying point, they dis- 
banded on the 29th of September, and proceeded to 
search for gold reefs and to take up farms under the 
protection of the police force organised by Dr. Leander 
Starr Jameson. The difficulties which faced the early 
settlers were heartbreaking. The jealousy of Portugal 
prevented them from securing an outlet to the sea on 
the east coast at Beira, and they were for two years 
2 G*— (3.A.) 



408 



The Matabele War. 



compelled to draw their supplies from the Cape, 1,700 
miles distant, with transport costing more than £70 per 
ton. 

An Anglo-Portuguese Convention, arranged in June 
1891, removed the chief of these difficulties, and when 
at the end of the year, Dr. Jameson was appointed 
Administrator, the situation began to improve. Loben- 
gula, for a time, was peaceable. His salary of £100 per 
month, paid to him by the Chartered Company, seemed to 
have won his good will; but in July 1893 ominous 
clouds began to gather. It was the Matabele custom 
for the King's impis to visit the Mashona villages once 
a year, and, by way of maintaining the authority of 
the sovereign, to indulge in murder and indiscriminate 
pillage. On this occasion the impis attacked some 
Mashonas living under the protection of the whites, 
and the upshot of the trouble which ensued was that 
Dr. Jameson, with the consent of the High Commissioner, 
organised the military resources at his disposal and in- 
vaded Lobengula's territory. JBuluwayo, the King's 
capital, was captured in the November following, and 
in a few weeks the war was over the King himself had 
perished, and the Chartered Company was secure in 
undisputed sovereignty. 

There is one incident, however, which will always 
make this, the first Matabele war, sadly memorable. 
On December 3rd, Major Allan Wilson and a party of 
eighteen men were surprised by an overwhelming 
horde of Matabele warriors on the banks of the Shan- 
gani River. Major Wilson and his devoted followers, as 
is the way of Englishmen, died fighting, one by one. 
Had their ammunition held out, there can be little doubt 
that they would have succeeded in breaking the power 




DR. JAMESON. 



vi Jamesons Raid." 



409 



of the fierce black wave which hemmed them in. As it 
was, they died like heroes who will ever be remembered 
in their country's story. 

Twelve months later, what is now the thriving and 
important town of Buluwayo had already reared its 
brick and mortar walls from the ashes of Lobengula's 
kraal. Everything pointed to a rapid and peaceful 
development of the resources of Rhodesia. Nevertheless, 
more trouble was in store. The first day of 1896 wit- 
nessed the now famous Jameson raid, which, for a brief 
space, seemed destined to involve not only South Africa, 
but the mother country itself in the flames of war. 

We have already noted that a dense European popula- 
tion had sprung up in the heart of the Transvaal, These 
settlers represented probably the most energetic and 
resourceful section of the community; but, in accord- 
ance with the hard and fast conservative customs of the 
Boers, they were not permitted to take any share in the 
government of the Republic. Certain fiscal grievances 
were also complained of, and the situation seems, by the 
end of 1895, to have become so intolerable that the Out- 
landers, as the " new comers" are called, had determined 
upon the desperate remedy of attempting to overthrow 
the Boer supremacy in the Transvaal. The British 
residents in Johatinesberg formed a Reform Committee, 
and it was in response to a manifesto issued by this Com- 
mittee that Dr. Jameson, at the head of about five hundred 
of the Chartered Company's police, crossed the Trans- 
vaal border on the 29th of December. In some manner, 
however, the plans of the Reformers miscarried. Dr. 
Jameson was surrounded by the Transvaal burghers at 
Krugersdorp, and on January 2nd surrendered to the 
Boers. 



410 Earl Grey appointed Administrator. 

All the resources of diplomacy were at once called into 
play. Dr. Jameson had clearly violated the fundamental 
laws of nations; but by the combined efforts of Lord 
Rosmead and the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain, 
President Kruger was induced to hand over his prisoners 
to be dealt with by the Imperial Government. The 
members of the Reform Committee were tried at 
Pretoria and sentenced to various punishments; but 
all of them, except one who died in Pretoria gaol, 
were afterwards liberated upon payment of fines. Dr. 
Jameson and five of his principal officers were tried and 
convicted in London under the Foreign Enlistments Act, 
and on July 29th, 1896, were sentenced to various terms 
of imprisonment. Meanwhile, a furious controversy as 
to the action of the Chartered Company raged in Parlia- 
ment and the Press. Finally, a Parliamentary Committee 
was appointed to inquire into the whole question, and this 
bodj^, which sat during the early part of LS97, decided that- 
certain changes should be made in the governing body of 
the Chartered Company. Mr. Rhodes, who had already 
resigned the office of Premier of Cape Colony, was 
removed from the position of managing director of 
the Company, while Earl Grey succeeded Dr. Jameson 
as Administrator of Rhodesia. In July 1898, Mr. 
Chamberlain carried out his scheme for giving the 
settlers in that region a voice in the management of 
their own affairs, and the Company's powers have been 
further curtailed by the placing of the military forces 
of Rhodesia under the control of an officer directly 
responsible to the Imperial Government. 

We come now to the terrible struggle which was 
waged during nearly the whole of 1896 with the 
Matabele, who, exasperated by the action of the Ad- 



The Matabele again in Arms. 411 

ministration in slaughtering their cattle in order to 
stamp out the dreaded rinderpest, rose in revolt early 
in the month of March of that year. The war com- 
menced with the murder of a policeman on March 
10th, and this was followed by the murder of Mr. 
Bentley, a Government official, and other Europeans, 
on the 24th. The whole native population rose in a 
body, and on the 26th the town of Buluwayo, con- 
taining 1,547 souls, and separated by 600 miles of 
hostile country from the railway terminus at Maf eking, 
was completely hemmed in. Lord Rosmead was in- 
formed by telegraph; the news was flashed to London; 
and by the end of April Earl Grey reached the 
beleaguered town with a welcome stock of food and 
ammunition. The home Government sent out 300 
men of the 7th Hussars, and 150 Mounted Infantry 
from Natal, and appointed General Sir Frederick Car- 
rington to the command. The war went on inter- 
mittently until August, when Mr. Rhodes conceived 
the daring idea of going into the rebel camp unarmed, 
and accompanied only by Mr. Colenbrander, to try the 
effect of friendly persuasion. This characteristically 
bold experiment proved entirely successful. A com- 
promise was made with the rebellious natives, and, 
though the flames of revolt smouldered until the 
beginning of 1897, the second Matabele war was 
practically at an end. 

Since that time the progress of Rhodesia has been 
steady and persistent. Mr. Rhodes talks of the time 
when the British flag shall wave uninterruptedly from 
the Cape to Cairo. Something has been done in that 
direction already. The telegraph wires have been carried 
north from Salisbury almost to the borders of Lake Tan- 



412 



The Progress of Rhodesia. 



ganyika; eastward to Beira, a port on the east coast; and 
southward to Cape Town. The railway runs northward 
for a distance of 1,350 miles from Cape Town, and Bulu- 
wayo, Lobengula's capital, is now within easy reach of 
the Cape. All this shows that the work of Livingstone 
and Moffat has not been in vain. The colonising and 
administrative genius of the British people have pro- 
duced marvellous results in many climes, but nowhere 
have they greater scope than in the vast region with 
which we have been dealing in this book. 

We have confined ourselves in this chapter almost 
exclusively to a review of the later history of British 
South Africa, and we have done so for the reason that 
the history of that region furnishes the most complete 
and most striking examples of that spirit of daring and 
enterprise which has animated all the heroes of South 
African exploration dealt with in the present volume. 
Of exploration proper, as we have said, there is little to 
record. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85, which defined 
the spheres of influence of the various European Powers, 
brought to an end the age of the pioneers of exploration. 
Since then there are but few changes to record. Various 
scientific societies have been at work, under the segis of 
the different Governments, slowly filling in the details of 
the huge plans sketched by the early explorers. Small 
missions are despatched from time to time to explore 
those few and unimportant tracts of country which yet 
contain secrets that must be wrested from them to 
satisfy the restless craving of the human mind. Of 
these missions perhaps the most interesting is that 
which was undertaken by Mr. J. E. S. Moore, of the 
Royal College of Science. Mr. Moore spent ten months 
on Lake Tanganyika in 1896, and collected much 



The Development of Civilisation. 413 



valuable information. He proposes to form another 
expedition which will go by way of the Zambesi and 
Nyassaland, and return by way of the Victoria N'yanza, 
and which may probably be able to effect a junction with 
Mr. Khodes's telegraph survey now working in that region. 
But with this exception, which has, after all, a purely 
scientific interest, there is nothing of importance to be 
added to the story of exploration as completed in the 
preceding chapter. 

Africa south of the Equator is no longer an unknown 
land. The southern portion of the Dark Continent is 
dark no longer, and its future history, we may hope, will 
be merely the uneventful but stimulating record of in- 
dustrial and educational progress and development. 



INDEX. 



Africaner, Hottentot chief, 50, 63. 
Ajawas, the, 217, 279. 
Alligator, tight with, 10 J. 
Almeida, Francesco d', 15. 
Andersson, Mr., 125-139. 
Anglo-Portuguese Convention, 408. 
Angola, 17. 

Ant-hill in South Africa, (cut) 48. 
Apingi. the, 256. 

Asaba, river-side scene at, (cut) 150. 
Ashaugo Land, 269. 
Ashira Land, 254, 264. 

Bakalahari, the, 89 : laying in a 
stock of water, (cut) 90 : fetching 
water, (cut) 136: sucking place, 
(cut) 140. 

Bakwains, the, 82, 90, 103 ; making 
karosses, (cut) 91. 

Bamangwato, the, 89. 

Bambarre, village, 304 ; mountains, 
358. 

Bangala, the, 116. 
Bangweolo, Lake, 295, 389. 
Baraka mission station, 234. 
Baralong country, 72, 76. 
Barotse valley, 107, 205. 
Barrow, Mr.. 27. 

Basuto Land, (cut) 2?, 72, (cut) 124. 

Batoka Land, 120, 205. 

Battel, Andrew, 17. 

Bechuana country, 32, 43, 404. 

Bechuana town, street in, (cut) 33. 

Bemba, Lake, 295. 

Benguela, 18, 374. 

Berend Griqua chief, 52, 54, 62. 



Bethelsdorp, 34, 36. 

Boers, the, 88, 101, 102 ; revolt of, 

401. 
Boma, 386. 

Bushman's Cave, (cut) 67. 
Bushmen, group of, (cuts) 42, 62; 

making a tire, {cut) 60 ; {cut) 230. 
Bush woman, (cut) 61. 
Botany of South Africa, 29. 
"Boyale," ceremony of, 104. 
Buluwayo, 408, 409. 
Burial in Karagwe, mode of, 169. 
Burton, Captain, 143-160. 

Cacti, group of, (cut) 35. 
Cameron, Lieut., 342-376. 
Campbell, John, 34-46 
Cape of Good Hope, discovery of, 

11 ; colonised by the Dutch, 19 ; 

annexed to England, 22. 
Cape Town founded, 19. 
Cazembe, chief, 292. 
Chaillu, Paul du, 233-272. 
Chambeze River, 330, 389. 
Chartered Company, 407, 408, 410. 
Chelmsford, Lord, 400. 
Chimpanzee, 259. 
Chitambo's village, 336. 
Chitapanga village, 287. 
Chobe river, 99, 105, 108. 
Congo, the, 16, 115, (cut) 232, 386. 

387-390, 392, 394. 
Corannas, the, 43. 
Corisco island, 235. 
Crocodiles, 191, 192, 196, 209. 
Cunene river, 139, 232. 



416 



Index. 



T) a.mara Land, 127. 

Dancing, 28, 39, 104, 1H ; war- 
dance, (cut) 40. 

Dayoko, chief of Mboushas, 238. 

Delagoa Bay, 161. 

Diaz, Bartholomew, 11. 

Diego Caro, 16. 

Dillon, W. E., 343-352. 

Dilolo, Lake, tradition as to its origin, 
112. 

Du Chailhi, Paul, 233-272. 

Dutch, the, in Cape of Good Hope, 19. 

Elephant, capture of, 193, 303. 
Elephant kloof, 136. 
Ericson, Mr., 139. 

Etiquette in Uganda, 171 ; at Man- 

ganja, 195. 
Euphorbia trees, (cut) 57, 194. 

Fan village, 246. 
Fan warrior, 244. 

Fauna of South Africa, 30, 43, 87. 92, 

96, 150. 
Female chief, 109. 
Fernand Vaz river, (cut) 248, 258. 
Ferrao, Senhor, 188, 211. 
Flamingo, (cut) 126. 
Floating Huts, (cut) 369. 
Forest, African, (cut) 24, 110, (cut) 

138. 

Frere, Sir Bartle, 398, 399, 401. 

Gaboon river, 233 ; mission station 

at, (cut) 236. 
Galton, Mr., 125-136. 
Gogos, the, 18. 

Gold-fields, discovery of, in South 
Africa, 228. 

Gorillas, 243, (cut) 246, 249; en- 
counter with, (cut) 250, 262. 

Graaf Reynet, 36. 

Graham's Town, 36. 

Grant, Mr., 160-180. 

Great Fish River, 30. 

Griquas, the, 25, 32, 38. 

Griqua Town, 38, 42. « 

Hippopotami, 29, 191. 208, 219, 

(cut) 248. 
"Hopo," game-trap, (cut) 86, 132. 
Hottentots, the, (cuts) 20, 29, 32. 
Hottentot weapons, etc., (cuts) 62, 

63. 



International African Associa- 
tion, 395. 

Iron smelting, 285. 

Ivory, transport of, to the coast, 
(cut) 174. 

Jameson, Dr., 407 ; raid, 409, 410. 
Johannesberg, 405, 406. 

Kaffir mission church, (cut) 341. 
Kaffirs, the, 22, 30. 
Kaffir village, (cut) 223. 
Kahikene, Datnara chief, 129. 
Kamrasi, King, 178. 
Karagwe, 168. 

Karosses, Bakwains making, (cut) 91, 

Karuma falls, the, 180. 

Kasai, river, 388. 

Kassali, Lake, 371. 

Katema, chief, 111. 

Katombela, town of, 374. 

Katonga, town of, 1C7. 

Kazeh, 151, 156. 

Ketchwaygo, 399. 400. 

Khonta, King, 31. 

Kilemba village, 367, 370, 371. 

Kilimanjaro, Mount, 142, 390, 393. 

Kimberley, diamond-fields of, 395- 

397, 402. 
Koba, dance of, 104. 
Kok, Adam, Griqua chief, 38, 
Kolobeng river, the 87, 96. 
Kolong river, the, 78. 
Kossie, king of Mashow, 43. 
Krapt, Mr., 141. 
Kruger, President, 401, 403-404. 
Kurreechana, town of, 44. 
Kuruman river, the, 32. 
Kwango, river and valley, 113. 

Lattaku, 39, 45, 68, 76, 81. 
Lecamb3 r e, or Zambesi, the, 106. 
Leopold, river, 383 ; lake 390. 
Lichtenstein, Henry, 32. 
Linvanti 105, 118, 204. 
Lions, 77, 83, 199 ; encounter with 
84. 

Livingstone, David, (cut) 80-124 ; his 
second journey, 183-227, ; his last 
journey, 276-338 ; carrying his body 
to the coast, (cut) 338 ; his funeral 
341. 

Livingstone, Mrs., her death, 224. 



Index. 



417 



Loanda, Livingstone's reception in, 

(cut) 111. 
Loango, 18. 
Loangwa, the, 286. 
Lobengula, 406. 
Locusts, ( cut) 74. 
Logumba river, the, 313. 
Loudon Convention, 403, 
Lualaba river, the, 286, 307, 361, 

381. 

Lukuga river, the, 356, 381. 
Lulimala river, the, 334. 
Lupton Bey, 391, 392. 

Mababe eiver, the, 98. 

Mackenzie, Bishop, 212, 216, 222. 

Magyar, 232. 

Majuba Hill, 397, 401. 

Makaba, chief of Baralong, 73. 

Makonde, the, 277. 

Makololos, the, 105, 203, 205. 

Mauch, Karl, 227. 

Manenko, a female chief. 109. 

Manganja country, interview with 

chief of, (cut) 190, 220, 279. 
Mantatees, the, 68, 71. 
Manyuema, 305, 312, (cut) 358, 381. 
Morootzees, 45. 
Mashonaland, 406. 
Mashow, town of, 44. 
Matabeles, the, 26, 75, 78, 411. 
Matabeleland, 406. 
Matakenya, a slave-hunter, 185. 
Mateebe, king of Lattaku, 40, 43, 79. 
Mayolo, chief, 267. 
Mbango, chief, 235. 
Meribohwey, 43. 
Mirage, 93. 

Missionaries, sufferings of, 207. 
Mission station on Gaboon river, {cut) 
236. 

Mobangi, river, 388. 

Moero, Lake, 289, 290. 298, 389. 

Moffat, Rev. R., 47-70. 

Mohr, Edward, 229. 

Mohyra. Lake, 368, (cut) 369. 

Mombasa, view of, (cut) 142, 145. 

Moore, J. E. S., 412. 

M'pende, a chief, 122, 200. 

Mpongwes, the, (cut) 234, 248. 

Mosamba mountains, the, 113. 

Mosilikatse, king of the Matabele. 

75, 78, 88, 109. 
Mozambique, 15. 



Mtesa, King, 169, 380. 

Murchison falls, the, 191, (cut) 219. 

Nam aqua Land, 28, 41, 56, 127. 
Namaqiia women, ( cut ) 55. 
Nangoro, Ovampo chief, 134. 
Natal, coast of, 14 ; country of, 23. 
N'gami, lake, 95, 136. 
Nile, the, 175. 

Nyangwe, village, 307, 381; massacre 

at, 308. 
N'yanza, Lake, 150, 159. 
Nyassa, Lake, 197, 219, 279. 

Obongos, the, dwarfs, 269. 

Ogowai river, the, 233. 

Oleiida, King of Ashira Land, 254, 

262 ; his death, 266. 
Orange river, the, 29, 37, 40. 
Ovampos, the, 132. 
Ovenga river, the, 261. 

Papyrus, the, (cut) 221. 
Paterson, Lieut. William, 28-32. 
Pocock, Francis and Edward, 378, 

379, 382, 386. 
Pretoria, 399 ; convention of, 402. 
Protect Cynaroides, 20. 

Rebmann, Mr., 141, 145. 

Remandjii, King, 256. 

Rhinoceros, 96, 201. 

Rhodes. Cecil John, 396, 398, 410. 

Rhodesia, 404, 409, 410, 

Ripon falls, the, 177. 

Roscher, Dr., 162. 

Rovuma river, the, 212, 225, 277. 

Rumanika, King, 165, 380. 

Salt-pan, 93, 137. 

Samba Nagoshi, falls of, 264, 

Sankorra, Lake, 362. 

Scenerv, African, (cut) 80, 116, 119, 

129, 133, 136, 149, 150, 165, 194. 
Schnitzer, Edward (Emin Pasha), 

391-394. 

Sebituane, Makololo chief, 95, 99, 
205. 

Sechele, chief of Bakwains, 85, 102. 
Sekeletu, Makololo chief, 106, 121, 
203. 

Sekomi, chief of the Bamangwato, 

89, 92. 
Shimeeyu river, 379. 



Index. 



Shinte, a Balonda chief, his reception 

of Livingstone, 110. 
Shire river, the, 187, 220. 
Shirwa, Lake, 192. 
Slavery, 146 ; the slave-trade. 185, 

198, 213-216. 220. 294. 303, 306, 

350, 359, 372. 
Small-pox, ravages of, 264. 
Smelting iron in Africa. 2S5. 
Sofala, 15. 
Sparrmann. 27. 
Speke. Captain. 143-180. 
Springs or socking -places, 137, (cut) 

140. 

Stanley. H. M., 314: his meeting 
with Livingstone, (cut) 329; his 
second jouruev. 377-386. 

Stellenbosb, 34.' ' 

St. Panl de Loanda, 117. 

Table mountain, 12. 

Tanganyika, Lake, 150, 153, 2SS, 313, 

327, 354, 389-390 ; scene on its 

eastern snores, ( cut ) 322. 
Tippn-Tib, 362, 381, 383, 392-394. 
Travelling in South Africa, (cut) 28. 

38. 

Transvaal Republic, the. 26. 
Tsetse fly, the. 96, 98, 107. 
Tura Nullah, 149. 

Tvpes of Kaffirs. Hottentots, etc., 
(cuts) 20, 25, 29, 42, 55, 60, 61, 230. 

Uganda, 169. 380 ; interview with 

the queen-mother of, (cut) 172. 
Ugogo. 148, 349, 378. 
Ujiji, 154, 301, 310, 354, 381. 



Unyanyembe, 151, 317, 349. 
Unyoro, 178. 

V A ILL ANT, M., 27. 

Vasco da Grama, 12, (cut) 13. 
Victoria falls, the, 119, 202. 
Victoria X'vanza. Lake, 160, 177, 

379, 380. 
Von der Deckon, Baron, 180-182. 

Waggon, South African, (cut) 28. 
Warfare, African, 71, 74 ; weapons 
of. (cuts) 62, 63 ; war costume, 

(cut) 25. 

War-dance, South African, (cut) 40. 
Water, laying in a stock of, (cut) 90; 

women and children of the Bakala- 

hari desert going to fetch .(cut) 136. 
Wedding, African, 370. 
Wilson, Major, 408. 
Witchcraft, belief in, 251 : execution 

of supposed witches, 253. 
Women, African, treatment of, 58, 

194 : fattening.' 169. 
Wood. Sir Evelyn, 402. 

Yellow river, the, 78. 
Young, Edward Daniel, 283. 

Zambesi, the, 14. 101, 106, 120, 189, 

208, 222, 373. 
J Zanzibar, island of, 143 : town of, 

(cuts/lU, 160. 
Zimbabye, ancient ruins of, 228. 
Zonsra river, the. 93. 96. 
Zulus, the, (cuts) 25. 26, 161: war 

with, 399. 



THE WALTER SCOTT PRESS, NEWCASTLE-ON-TVNE. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: June 2003 

PreservatsonTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 77S-2111 








^0 



© CV 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




010 649 888 A % 



